Gaby Miègeville-Little

The Warp and Weft project forges a new museum paradigm where objects, people and disciplines are perpetually woven.

Methods of managing and sharing existing knowledge have shifted away from physical mediums. Technological development has caused our engagement with cultural collections to rely on digital networks, altering the patterns that characterise our navigation of information. This beckons the reinvention of traditional Museums towards a new archetype where both physical and digital connectivity are used to celebrate the dynamic lifecycle of objects and their audiences.

The University of Melbourne will be forced to reflect on its dual role as a producer of academic research and a public purveyor of knowledge as it regains stewardship of its vast cultural collections over the next few years. Warp and Weft reconciles these identities by proposing a redesigned system which dethrones hierarchical pathways in favour of dynamic, overlapping ones. The design takes cues from alternative knowledge systems to transcend the linear logic now limiting productive use of the collections, and through the digitisation of artefacts allows for new layers of information to be revealed.