Circulating Knowledge. Reassessing the Narratives of Traveling Exhibitions

Abstract

This article examines debates on the genesis and evolution of traveling exhibitions, tracing how they came to be legitimized as an exhibition format starting in the mid-20th century. Long considered peripheral, these shows acquired significance both formally – through modular and standardized design solutions – and curatorially, as arenas for testing new modes of interpretation and communication. Publications and discussions of the 1950s framed them as experimental models, while acknowledging their practical limitations and outlining best practices. As these analyses evolved, the focus gradually shifted from questions of design, curatorial choices, and the safeguarding of objects toward a broader concern with the exhibitions’ social role and their accountability to audiences. Given the challenges and limitations of fragmented documentation and scholarship focused on case studies, the article argues for the potential of transdisciplinary approaches to reposition traveling exhibitions within the broader history of exhibition practices and museology.