Metaphorical exhibitions between art and design: a mutual relationship beyond borders

The exhibition design has always been – among other design disciplines – one of the most innovative field of experimentation both for languages and projects improvement. The paper aims at studying the potential of art of being a metaphorical “tool” for the interior design approach both in terms of cultural exhibitions and installations. For this reason we present two groups of cases: cultural exhibitions designed by artists and artistic installations created by designers and architects. The relationship between the design approach and artistic installations can be seen in three dimensions of the design process: in exploring the theoretical meaning of the space (the art as a media to know novel vocations of spaces during the concept generation process); in experimenting the physical impact of the artifact in the space (the art as a matter of innovation during the verification of the project); in expressing innovative spatial concepts (the art as a “language” to communicate novel provocative and disruptive visions during the communication of the idea). In conclusion: we embrace the idea that art can be considered as a paradigmatic incubator in the process of “living” the Interiors. Starting from that, we are going to underline some methodological attitudes within the design culture in relation to the artistic research and to interpret new aesthetics.