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Le Flâneur

Project Brief-
Part 1: To design a temporary entrance for the RISD museum.
Part 2: To design a temporary exhibit space that complements your entrance. A curator will be assigned to you who will choose the objects for the exhibit.

Studio: Narrative Museum with Brian Kernaghan
Project Duration: 1 Month
Completed: March 2013

Part 1: The concept chosen by my curator was ‘Le Flâneur’, who wandered the streets and arcades of Paris merely as an observer. I looked at the arches in French arcades as a source of inspiration. I designed the entrance such that you walk through a series of wooden arches from the street right into the museum. Some of the arches are also replicated around the door frames leading to the main exhibit space. Many elements of the interior exhibit are replicated outside. A screen on the wall shows a film of people walking the streets of Paris.



Part 2: The curator chose a collection of objects that are seen in a city. The site I chose was the central gallery in the RISD museum which resembles an arcade. I designed our exhibit to look like a city with blocks that resembled buildings to hold the objet d'art. The flâneur would be a visitor to this mini city in the museum. In addition to walking between the blocks, I also designed a platform so that the flâneur could get an aerial view of the “city” below. I also played with the lighting- spot lights continuously changing their focus on each object at a time, forcing the flâneur to look at only the objects that are being highlighted, sometimes illuminating an empty pedestal, thus drawing attention to the lack of an artifact.