ABSTRACT
The bowl, one of the most basic of human-made forms, operates in a “no man's land” of objects in museum collections. It plays a supporting role in art exhibitions, sidelined in favour of the exemplary and the one of a kind. A designer's career is made through the redesign of the chair, lamp, and table – not the bowl. Ceramics educators debate the merits of teaching beginners to throw a bowl versus a cylinder, arguing about which form provides a better entrée to conceptual thinking. This perplexing object exists in a variety of forms, and can be found in nearly every household around the globe – yet remains overlooked in critical studies. The Museum of Contemporary Craft, in partnership with Pacific Northwest College of Art, Portland, Oregon, sought to address this complicated object by embracing use and the user – or audience – at the center of exhibition research, development, and implementation in the project Object Focus: The Bowl. 1 The exhibition was developed to be interactive, and to explore a number of questions. How can an exhibition collapse the public–private divide between museum and home? Can this be done in a way that maintains the integrity of the museum's role as a steward of objects? How can the public be engaged to contribute narratives and documentation of the project? How might an exhibition focused on one of the most common domestic objects serve as a catalyst for rethinking our relationship to archetypal craft forms and curatorial practices with regards to craft history, and centralize user experience at the core of the project? Can an exhibition claim the bowl in the name of craft?
