Towards Living Exhibitions

This thesis introduces the concept of living exhibitions: continuously evolving museum exhibitions that are cooperatively developed and evaluated by teams of museum professionals and visitor representatives. The author argues that the living exhibition design process should draw its inspiration from multiple resources, including current research on museum learning, interaction principles and technology. As a case-in-point, the thesis provides a description of how such results have inspired the design of The Well of Inventions, a public installation at the Museum of Science and Technology in Stockholm. Furthermore, the thesis describes how an evaluation methodology from cooperative design was adopted and successfully applied within the museum domain. The ultimate aim of the work is to increase the opportunities for communication between museum professionals and their audiences.