Not Quite Wright: Distorting Architectural Heritage through Exhibition and Display

This project is concerned with the collection and display of architecture inside museums. More precisely, it examines how such exhibitions of architecture frequently distort built heritage through material substitutions and physical deformations, placing museum practices at odds with those of conservation professionals. Within this context, the project focuses on the work of American architect, Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959), whose buildings—perhaps more so than those of any other architect—have been extensively collected by museums. It aims to reassess the role and value of such collections of aberrant architecture, at a time when the discipline is gaining widespread curatorial interest in museums and galleries, and increasingly used as a means to preserve and protect architectural design as a cultural form.