Recent collection display practices signal what has been described as a “comeback” for the integration of broad-ranging object categories in which the boundaries between these previously separated objects resolve.Mixing objects from different object categories can take many forms, and occurs not only at the level of the objects themselves, but also at institutional levels. For categories such as painting, drawing, and applied arts, or the subcategories within, such as Renaissance drawings, porcelain, or twentieth-century art, are akin to the divisions in curatorial departments, galleries, or exhibition spaces and the people that work within them. Also, museums that were initially not “disciplined” have been re-staged to reflect the originally mixed display, such as the Bode Museum, Berlin. Moreover, even in homogenous collections, a mixing of value and status becomes possible when chronology, subject matter, style, or school are not the guiding principle. Such display strategies of mixing therefore typically create new connections and enable collections of varying values, periods, and object categories to merge and their individual artifacts to meet in new and meaningful ways
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The research project Designing Environment conducts research into how a different mind-set can be brought about concerning people with dementia, by intervening in care processes, and from the perspective of the participating observer. The objective is to create an environment for people with dementia, together with those involved in their care, which is adaptable and where not care is the main focus, but consideration. The interventions that will be introduced come from the world of the arts and many have already been tested in various care environments. Mapping, different kinds of conversations, making portraits and taking pictures are examples of possible interventions. The interventions are chosen on the basis of participating observation. The project is innovative in its approach of the environment of the person with dementia. It will yield knowledge for personalised consideration and care of those involved, and it will give the designer in this setting an entirely new role.