The project in brief

"The Secret Life of Objects" is a research project done in collaboration between the Media Lab of the University of Art and Design and the Design Museum in Helsinki. The project started with the Museum's initiative to develop services for the permanent exhibition of Finnish modern design.

The project develops and at the moment has its own exhibition: The Secret Life of Objects, an Interactive Map of Finnish Design. From 18.03.08 to 1.06.08 in Design Museum.

From the museum point of view the main idea of the project was to explore how to discuss design objects with different groups, using different media resources. We organized workshops in which teenagers and children were invited to work with design objects using music, poetry, photography and drawing. Audio-visual materials gathered in the workshops are accessible in the exhibition and on-line through the interactive map and the blog .

The central question of the research project is how to design for participation in museums and what are the expected results of this participation. The interactive map is used as case study of visitors participating in co-creating the message of the exhibition. Visitors can comment on the historical material related to the objects, on the material coming from the workshops, on the objects of the exhibition, on other visitors' comments, on the exhibition as a whole, and on the future design.

It is also part of this project the development of a video production framework for documenting the workshops and started to make concepts for new uses of the materials.

In a later stage we will develop a concept for the Design Museum's own web TV channel, using the material created during the workshop with children in an attempt to take them to kindergartens outside Helsinki.

Contact Person: Mariana Salgado msalgado@taik.fi