Otherness Museums. Designing New Cultural Experiences beyond Thematic and Cultural Borders

The purpose of this essay is to give a reading and a critical interpretation of the ways design-driven projects (in terms of approach and language instruments) stage themes and contents linked to the field of museography and exhibition design. Here you will find the description of three case studies on cultural and context differences (Storie Plurali – Plural Stories, Fondazione Museo Ettore Guatelli – Ozzano Taro), on social fragility and discrimination (Museo Memoria y Tolerancia – Mexico City), and on differences connected to physical and mental health (Museo Laboratorio della mente – Roma), in which strengths and weaknesses are highlighted in order to investigate in what terms design becomes responsible, bearer and interpreter of paradigms and jargons designed to “represent” such a complex and articulated issue. The key assumption is that a museum is a place where inside and outside do not exist as there is only a through; museums experience the same contradictions of the world they represent.