Migration of Form

How can exhibitions contribute to a broader understanding of the complex global entanglements that shape our world and life?

The term \"migration of form\" describes a curatorial method that responds to the inner contradictions of the Western museum traditions and the way we have been conceiving and designing exhibitions. The method focuses on transcultural interrelations and dependencies from which objects emerge, rather than working with distinctions such as art and non-art; public and protagonist; or traditional, modern, and contemporary. A museum then serves as platform for a discourse on urgent socio-political topics and as a space of experimentation with new forms of display and construing.

This book explains and applies the method at the same time. It offers an insight into the practice of Zurich's Johann Jacobs Museum, whose program aims to convey a broader understanding of the complex global interdependencies that shape our world and life. Descriptions of single objects and object constellations are complemented by concise texts illuminating the museum's theoretical foundations. Richly illustrated, the volume invites a timely and broadened view of art and cultural history.

Text in English and German.

About the Authors

Roger M. Buergel is a curator and director of Johann Jacobs Museum in Zurich.

He has staged and directed numerous major exhibitions around the world, such as the documenta 12 (2007) in Kassel, the Busan Biennale in 2012 and the Suzhou Biennale in 2016.

Sophia Prinz is a visiting professor of theory of design and gender studies at Berlin's University of the Arts.

She also works as a scientific advisor at Johann Jacobs Museum in Zurich.