In the contemporary society, “Design” has a stable, even if not extended, position in art museums worldwide for collection, preservation, research, and exhibition. And with its very function, art museums treat design objects as equivalent as “art,” as having artistic value. The design “works” are presented as a result of artistic expression, with the form, novelty, and originality brought to the fore. However, the purpose of the design activities such as solving problems in society and daily life, discovering potential problems, realizing a more rich or convenient life, conveying information and promoting sales of products and services, is not questioned there. The presentation of design in art museums can be critically evaluated as bringing about a kind of double standard in the meaning and significance of “design.” However, this tendency is not limited to art museums. It has also been seen in the activities of various professional design organizations, the design award systems, design journalism, and private companies seeking differentiation from other products and services. As a result, it has promoted development of design activities and collaboration with other fields, which is also an important aspect of design activities.

This research believes that this general understanding of design makes it possible to question the “boundary between art and design,” and utilizes this question to create exhibitions, which are one of the art museum’s main activities.

Museum exhibitions have traditionally been, and perhaps will continue to be, a forum for the presentation of results. The expression of this result is the exhibition’s narrative, which is composed of the exhibited works. In this research, however, we have tackled the issue of exhibitions as laboratories, that is, whether an exhibition can be activated as a place for a “process” rather than a place for presenting the “results” through the question of “what is the boundary between art and design?” Although the viewers are asked to respond to the question, our focus is not on the content of their answers but on their participation in the question. Suspending the traditional function of presenting narratives, we have attempted to verify whether viewers accept the active participation, which was essential to form the exhibition, as an art museum experience.