Designing Sounds for Exhibitions: Tools to enhance Sound-driven Design Strategies

The evolution of exhibition design has been significantly influenced by the recent technological and curatorial transformations along with the conceptual and practical shift from viewing museums as collections to recognising them as narrative spaces. For exhibition designers, an ever-growing need to incorporate sounds and listening experiences into their projects has emerged. These are considered valuable means of crafting complex narratives and multisensorial habitats, capable of designing relationships between space, time, content, and audience. However, qualitative research conducted as part of a project so-called ‘Sound Design and Cultural Heritage’ funded by Politecnico di Milano – which included literature reviews and fieldwork with semi-structured interviews of professionals and scholars – has revealed the need for shared conceptual and operational tools to address the sonic dimension in exhibitions. In response, we developed three methodological tools to guide the design process: two complementary conceptual tools (sound narratives canvas and sound narratives notation) and a practical design tool (exhibit sound score). The purpose is to facilitate the conception and development of sound-driven exhibition projects by integrating curatorial strategies, spatial design, and sound design into multisensory and interactive narratives. Furthermore, those tools can enhance collaboration between curators, exhibition designers and sound designers, fostering co-design practices.