The Beyond Matter MA Fellowship Programme was invisioned as a continuation of decades long art and design research in the area of digital cultural heritage combining arts, humanities and technology in Systems of Representation research group at Aalto University. We believe that this unique approach offers large reciprocal advantages both to cultural and heritage institutions, as well as to educational ones. Design is directed towards imagining achievable alternative futures, and working with talented design students of various profiles enriches museums with inflow of fresh thoughts and ideas. Supporting the new ways of thinking can create possibilities of engaging with heritage in novel ways complementary to curatorial work in the traditional sense. Similarly, the process of critically engaging and experimenting with exciting materials of high cultural value can motivate students to gain deeper understanding and new knowledge about heritage and about design. Museums, through their interdisciplinary engagement can provide students with much needed scientific and humanistic grounding.

As part of the international research project Beyond Matter – Cultural Heritage on the Verge of Virtual Reality led by ZKM Karlsruhe and funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union, the MA Fellowship Programme was coordinated from autumn 2020 to summer 2021 concurrently with the conceptual phase of the digital reconstructions of two momentous historical exhibitions, Les Immatériaux (Centre Pompidou, 1985) and Iconoclash (ZKM, 2002). The MA Fellowship Programme offered ten internships at four different European cultural heritage institutions to outstanding individuals selected through an application process open to the Aalto University MA students of all study lines. The overall work which the selected students completed during their placements ranges from contribution to production process of a physical exhibition and an online conference, involvement with curatorial concepts and research of archival materials, through creating 3D virtual models and interactive 3D web-based environments, developing interaction concepts for a hybrid exhibition, developing the concept design for online and mobile versions of a visual archive on public art, to a concept design for a virtual reconstruction of a historical exhibition.

This exhibition highlights selected aspects of engaging with heritage as a source of knowledge in art and design education and displays processes and outcomes of co-design methodologies employed during the Beyond Matter MA Fellowship Programme in particularly rich and insightful collaboration between Aalto University and the Centre Pompidou. Responding to our partner’s needs, we provided supervision for the students as well as guidance in various aspects of the collaborative design process in all phases during the Fellowship. The process involved a series of participatory co-design workshops with the curators and researchers from the Centre Pompidou on ideation, audience profiles, information architecture and content design. In addition, to support the research process, we organised a series of educational activities for students such as Information Architecture workshop, Sketching 360° VR Panoramas workshops and a lecture on Architectural mapping techniques. Designers, curators and art historians worked closely together and generously shared their knowledge and insights, trying to build a common space of understanding and inspiration throughout the co-design process. These efforts resulted in the final concept design for the virtual reconstruction of Les Immatériaux, the pioneering exhibition curated by French philosopher Jean-François Lyotard and design theorist Thierry Chaput. Through Les Immatériaux, they explored the intersections of art, science and technology and attempted to address the postmodern transformation of the world influenced by the increasing presence of new technologies in all aspects of life.

The assessment of the whole MA Fellowship process allows us to reflect on complexities and advantages of a co-design collaboration as a possible direction for practice-based art and design research. In addition, in the context of digital cultural heritage, it addresses the potential that designers and artists have in bridging gaps between different disciplines.