ICOM Dubai 2025 General Conference, 11–17 November 2025

Museum of the Future, Dubai

Register now via dubai2025.icom.museum

Join ICOM–DESIGN for our 2025 Annual Meeting at the World Trade Centre, Dubai, during ICOM’s triennial General Conference, 11–17 November 2025. The overall theme of ICOM Dubai is “The Future of Museums in Rapidly Changing Communities,” with three subthemes: “Intangible Heritage,” “Digital Technologies,” and “Youth Power.”

There will be three ICOM–DESIGN sessions held at the Dubai General Conference and one IC Day of site visits:

1. A-10 (DESIGN (ICDAD), GLASS) - Adornment and Identity (12th November 2025, 1.5 hours)
2. B-7 (or BC-7) (DESIGN (ICDAD), DEMHIST) - Adornment and Identity in Spatial Design and Objects (12th November 2025, 1.5 hours)
3. C-7 (COSTUME, DESIGN (ICDAD)) - Adornment and Identity (13th November 2025, 1.5 hours)
4. IC Day - Dubai’s Decorative Arts, Design, and Intangible Heritage (15th November 2025, all day)

Conference Program

Themes of the three ICOM–DESIGN Sessions and the IC Day:
 
A-10 (DESIGN, GLASS) - Adornment and Identity (12 November, 1:00 – 2:30 PM (Dubai time), Sheikh Rashid Hall B)

“The Wreath of the Bride from Oaș Country, Romania and the Art of Identity Reconstruction” Mihaela GRIGOREAN (Satu Mare County Museum, Satu Mare, Romania)

“Adornment and Identity: Case of Study Based on the Museu Nacional D’Art Collections” Mariangels FONDEVILA (Curator of Modern Art, Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain)

“Adorning the Invisible: Herta Ottolenghi Wedekind’s Textile Language of Symbolism and Meaning” Diletta HABERL (PhD student in Art History at the Department of Humanities, University of L’Aquila, Italy)

“Adornment and Identity: Material Culture in Indian Sanskrit Literature and Museum Collections” Sakshi KUKRETI (Museum Consultant and Independent Curator, Delhi, India)

Keynote Address 

“Changing Face of a Glass Object, a Narrative of Research Journey in Times and Places” Salehvand NAVID (Director of Glass and Ceramic Museum of Iran, Tehran, Iran) and Moghayer Zohreh MOHAMMADIAN (Senior Curator of Glass and Ceramic Museum of Iran, Tehran, Iran)

Moderators

Denise HAGSTRÖMER (DESIGN Board Member and Senior Curator of Design at the National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design, Oslo, Norway)
Melissa RINNE (DESIGN Chair and Senior Specialist, Kyoto National Museum, Japan)

B-7 (DESIGN, DEMHIST) - Adornment and Identity in Spatial Design and Objects (12th November 2025, 2:45 – 4:15 PM (Dubai time), Sheikh Rashid Hall B) 

“The House Museum as a Witness to the Contemporary World” Arianna VALLARINO (Project Manager and Curator Educator, Museo della Ceramica di Savona and Casa Museo Jorn, Albissola Marina, Italy)

“Between Ruin and Renovation: Museo Sant’Orsola as Exhibition Space” Brianna BRINKLEY (Cultuurfonds-funded Research Residency, Museo Sant’Orsola, Florence, Italy)

“The Ornament of Lombardijen: Adornment as Collective Identity and Civic Ritual” Nicole VAN DIJK (Founder and Director, Stichting Wijkcollectie/District Heritage Collection Foundation, Rotterdam, the Netherlands)

“Nineteenth Century Japanese Textiles and the Western Interior” Melissa RINNE (Senior Specialist, Kyoto National Museum, Kyoto, Japan)

“Seeing the Maker: Engaging with the Spirit of Villa Esche Then and Now” Anika REINEKE (Curator of Textiles, Decorative and Applied Arts and the Henry van de Velde Museum, Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz, Germany)

Moderators

Alexander Belousev (DEMHIST Board Member and Head of Publishing Department, Peterhof Museum, Russia)

Denise HAGSTRÖMER (DESIGN Board Member and Senior Curator of Design at the National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design, Oslo, Norway)

Timna Seligman (DEMHIST Chair and Senior Curator, Ticho House, Jerusalem, Israel)

Milja Stijovic (DEMHIST Vice Chair and Senior Curator, Yugoslav Film Archive, Belgrade, Serbia)

C-7 (COSTUME, DESIGN) - Adornment and Identity (13th November 2025, 2:00 – 4:00 PM (Dubai time), Sheikh Rashid Hall B) 

“From Trade Fabric to Intangible Heritage: The Enduring Legacy of English Callimanco in Estonian Visual and Material Culture” Tiina Kul (Junior Researcher, Estonian National Museum)

“Curating Woven Narratives: Okinawan Textiles, Resilience, and the Dynamic Preservation of Tangible and Intangible Heritage through Design” Chih-I Lai (Curator of Decorative Art and Design, National Palace Museum, Taiwan)

“On the Border Between Designed and Coded Suit: A Case Study of ‘SOLL’” Katarina Nina Simoncic (Professor, Faculty of Textile Technology, University of Zagreb, Croatia)

“Cameos and Identity: Personal Expression Across Time at the National Museum of Antiquities, Leiden (RMO)” Anika Ohlerich (Exhibition Designer and Art Historian, Amsterdam, the Netherlands)

“Weaving Memories: Adornment and Identity in Atayal Clothing” Hsiang-Yin Chen (Director, Museum of Fiber Arts, Taichung, Taiwan)

“Body.exe: codes on digital skin” Tatjana Mikulic (Textile Curator, Ethnographic Museum, Belgrade, Serbia)

Moderators

Corinne THEPAUT-CABASSET (COSTUME Chair and Research Associate, Château de Versailles, France)

Melissa RINNE (DESIGN Chair and Senior Specialist, Kyoto National Museum, Japan)

 
IC Day Program – ICOM DESIGN (ICDAD) “Dubai’s Decorative Arts, Design, and Intangible Heritage”, 15 November 2025

9:00 am Gather at Dubai World Trade Centre, divide into two groups for morning tours.

9:30 Bus departs to Al Fahidi Historical Neighbourhood to visit Bait Al Khanjar Dagger Museum and Coffee Museum, with sightseeing and shopping nearby as time allows.

12:00 Traditional Emirati Lunch at Arabian Tea House

1:30 Bus departs to Al Shindagha Museum

2:00 Tours of Dubai Creek: Birth of a City, Perfume House, and Culture of the Sea Pavilion. Free visits to Jewelry House, Traditional Crafts House, Archaeology House, etc.

5:15 Participants in optional no-host DESIGN Committee Dinner gather in front of Al Shindagha Museum to walk to Al Khayma Heritage Restaurant Dubai in Al Fahidi Historical Neighbourhood

5:30 Bus departs for the Dubai World Trade Centre (for all others)

ICOM–DESIGN International Symposium and Post-Symposium Tour in Oslo, Norway, 28 October–1 November, 2025

Image: Marco Magni, Guicciardini & Magni Architetti, sketch for Room 21, the collection display, National Museum, Oslo. Photo: Mario Ciampi

In addition to its Annual Conference in Dubai, ICOM–DESIGN is also organizing a separate 2025 International Symposium on the theme of “Design Collection Displays Reassessed” at the new National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design, Oslo (Nasjonalmuseet), 28–30 October, 2025. This program, organized by Nasjonalmuseet Senior Curator and ICOM–DESIGN board member Dr. Denise Hagströmer, will be followed by a special post-symposium tour to local destinations 30 October–1 November.

The Design Collection Displays Reassessed symposium will explore collection displays as sites of knowledge exchange and active engagement. It will interrogate how design objects and interiors are displayed, discussed and interpreted, and for whom. What does curating these kinds of collection displays represent and mean today? And how might this practice look in the future? What new museological approaches are needed?

We look forward to meeting in person to discuss and debate an ever-changing field – a conversation between scholars and practitioners across borders, institutions and disciplines.

Keynote speakers are Corinna Gardner, Senior Curator, Design and Digital, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, Dr Sebastian Hackenschmidt, Curator of Furniture and Woodwork, MAK – Museum für angewandte Kunst, Vienna, Marco Magni, founder and chief architect, and Maria Cristina Rizzello, architect and partner, Guicciardini & Magni Architetti, Florence, and Dr Leena Svinhufvud, Lead Researcher, Architecture & Design Museum, Helsinki; all leading scholars within the field. The other speakers, all international, will contribute with talks grouped according to the following themes: Approaches to Reinstallations, Perspectives on House Museums, Sustainability and Self-Questioning, Design Mediating Design or Exploring Process and On Specificity and Subject Matter. These presentations are the result of an earlier Open Call for Papers.

This symposium is organised by the National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design in collaboration with the International Council of Museums, ICOM, and the international committee ICOM–DESIGN (formerly ICOM-ICDAD), International Committee for Decorative Arts and Design.

Conference Program Oslo

28 October

10.00–11.00 and 15.00-16.00 Registration at conference desk, museum lobby.

Guided Tours: Please select one of the following two options:

Tours Option 1 (numbers limited):

Includes guided tours conducted by specialist curators at two local museums:

9.15 Meet convener Denise Hagströmer (wearing a pink cap) in Solli Plass square at the 30 bus stop (direction: Bygdøy) for bus tickets and departure 9.30 to:

10.00 the Norsk Folkemuseum (about life and culture in Norway from the 16th century to the present)

11.30 Lunch at the Norsk Folkemuseum

12.30 Depart by public transport bus from the Norsk Folkemuseum

13.00 the Historical Museum: the Norwegian Viking Age and Heritage exhibitions

16.00 Guided tour at the National Museum, conducted by specialist curators:

The historical and modern design collection display. Meet in the museum lobby 

Tours Option 2:

Includes guided tours at the National Museum, conducted by specialist curators and architects:

11.00 Tour of the historical and modern design collection display. Meet in the museum lobby.

12.30-13.30 Lunch at the museum

16.00 Tour of the Art.Hand.Craft exhibition. Meet in the museum lobby.

17.30-18.30 Drinks reception (venue tbc)

Please note that on 28 and 29 October the museum closes at 20.00, but on 30 October the museum closes at 17.00. 

29 October

Please enter via the museum side entrance in Dronning Mauds gate. 

08.45 Welcome addresses and introductions 
Director Ingrid Røynesdal, the National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design, Melissa Rinne, Senior Specialist, Kyoto National Museum and Chair of ICOM-DESIGN, and symposium convener, Dr Denise Hagströmer, Senior Curator, the National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design 

Keynote lecture 
Dr Sebastian Hackenschmidt, MAK – Museum für angewandte Kunst, Vienna: Prolonging the Magic: Vienna 1900 in Post-production

Discussion

Break
 
Theme 1: Approaches to Reinstallations

Valérie Montens and Sophie Balace, Royal Museums of Art and History, Brussels: Reframing Decorative Arts Displays at the Royal Museums of Art and History, Brussels: Challenges and New Directions

Jessica Andersson Sjögerén and Josefin Kilner, Röhsska Museum, Gothenburg: Design Stories Reimagined: A Thematic Approach to Curating at Röhsska Museum

Dr Monica Obniski, High Museum of Art, Atlanta: Taking a Position with Design

Discussion 
 
Lunch 
 
Keynote lecture 
Dr Leena Svinhufvud, Architecture and Design Museum, Helsinki: Shifting Baseline Syndrome. The Challenge of Displaying the Story of Finnish Architecture and Design

Discussion 

Break
 
Theme 2: Perspectives on House Museums

Prof. Gabriele Toneguzzi, Luav University of Venice: Beyond Heroization: Living Heritage and Contemporary Collection Displays

Helena Gomez, Vizcaya Museum and Garden, Miami: Pastiche as Practice: Contemporary Interventions at Vizcaya Museum and Gardens

Haitang Zhang, Glasgow School of Art: The Challenge of Virtual House Museums: Reclaiming Intimacy, Atmosphere, and Trust

Discussion 

Break  

Theme 3: Sustainability and Self-Questioning

Eleanor Watson, Design Museum and Kingston University, London: The Curse of Permanence: Curating Design Collection Displays in an Era of Rapid Climate Change

Dr Cilla Robach, National Museum, Stockholm: Curating the Audience?

Dr Bárbara Coutinho, MUDE - Museu do Design, Lisbon: Recycling Is Not Enough: How Museography and Scenography Can Promote Sustainability and Raise Awareness about the Durability of Things

Discussion

Ends circa 17.00

17.15: Option to join a guided tour of the historical and modern design collection display, conducted by Senior Curator Denise Hagströmer. Meet in the museum lobby.

Evening free.

The museum closes at 20.00.

30 October

8.45 Start. Please enter via the museum side entrance in Dronning Mauds gate. 

Keynote lecture 
Marco Magni, founder and chief architect, and Maria Cristina Rizzello, architect and partner, Guicciardini & Magni Architetti, Florence: Designing at the National Museum. Specific Installations for Global Themes.

Discussion  

Break

Theme 4: Design Mediating Design or Exploring Process

Prof Anders V. Munch, University of Southern Denmark and Joachim Allouche, Museum of Southeast Denmark and University of Southern Denmark: Made in Denmark: Using design collections to reconnect citizens with the realities of production

Dr Pamela Bianci, École Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture Paris-Belleville: Encyclopaedic Displays for Open Narratives

Evelien Bracke and Eva Van Regenmortel, Design Museum Gent: Models from the Past for the Future. A new collection display for Design Museum Gent

Lunch

Keynote lecture 
Corinna Gardner, Victoria and Albert Museum, London: Designing for a Better Future. Intent and Purpose in the Twenty-first Century Collections Display

Discussion

Theme 5: On Specificity and Subject Matter.

Henri Cosemans, University of Antwerp: Beyond the Coach House: Carriages and the Challenges of Museum Display

Dr Vanessa Ferey, Sorbonne University, Paris: Cognatheques as Living Displays: Reassessing Bottle Collections through Sensory Design and Territorial Museography

Dr Julia Meer, Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg: Activating the Collection – Mind the Gaps and Dare to Be Vulnerable!

Discussion
 
Concluding remarks 
Dr Sarah Lichtman, Chair, Pratt Institute, New York

The museum closes at 17.00.

17.30–18.30: Drinks reception in Salongen, 1st floor. 
 
19.00: Symposium dinner at the Theatercaféen restaurant
 
The symposium will be recorded but not streamed.

31 October to 1 November: Post-symposium

The post-symposium will include guided tours of museums, including house museums, studio visits and other venues, all in the Oslo area, with travel by coach, public transport bus and boat, and will also include lunches. Further info announced here in late August.

1 November 19.00: Informal post-symposium farewell dinner at a pizzeria nearby the museum. 

Tickets and Accommodation

Tickets

Symposium fee: 2000 NOK

Symposium dinner at the Theatercaféen restaurant (numbers limited): 700 NOK

Get your tickets here: Design Collection Displays Reassessed – Nasjonalmuseet

The registration fee ticket includes: 

• Three full days with four keynote lectures, fifteen talks and guided tours
• Lunch, coffee and refreshments for all three days and two drinks receptions 
• Entrance to the National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design 

Post-Symposium 31 October to 1 November (numbers limited): The post-symposium ticket is 1000 NOK and will include guided tours of museums, including house museums, studio visits and other venues, all in the Oslo area, and will also include lunches. Further info will be announced on the symposium website in early September. Informal post-symposium farewell dinner: 400 NOK per ticket.

Post-symposium informal dinner 1 November at a pizzeria nearby the museum: 400 NOK

Get your post-symposium tickets here soon

Registration deadline is 20 October. 

Accommodation

A limited number of single rooms have been reserved at the Oslo Guldsmeden Hotel, Parkveien 78, 10 mins walk from the National Museum, at 1515 NOK per night, including a buffet breakfast. These rooms are held until 20 September and are available on a first come first served basis. Please email the hotel: oslo@guldsmedenhotels.com, reference: ‘Nasjonalmuseet-ICOM-DESIGN’, phone: +47 940 13 091.

This symposium is organised by the National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design in collaboration with the International Council of Museums, ICOM, and the international committee ICOM–DESIGN (formerly ICOM-ICDAD), International Committee for Decorative Arts and Design.

Oslo Call for Papers: Design Collection Displays Reassessed

DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS now closed.

The Design Collection Displays Reassessed symposium will discuss collection displays as sites of knowledge exchange and active engagement. From a traditionally linear, encyclopedic display, to today’s more narrative approaches, in the last decades, historical and contemporary displays of decorative arts and design have changed dramatically, in response to a variety of forces, including reassessments of institutional priorities, foregrounding of audiences, and the inclusion of different voices. The symposium will interrogate how design objects and interiors are displayed, discussed and interpreted, and for whom. What does curating these kinds of collection displays represent and mean today? And how might this practice look in the future? What new museological approaches are needed?

The new National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design, Oslo, a merger of four previously independent museums, is a fitting venue for a symposium with this theme. It opened its new, large-scale collection display in 2022, including decorative arts, design, interiors, fashion and studio crafts from the 1100s to the present. This permanent collection reinstallation, the first since 2005, provided an opportunity to re-think the curation of the design and decorative arts display. Some of the questions raised in the curatorial process at the National Museum have inspired and will inform this symposium, including:

• How might we curate critically meaningful displays that communicate the distinctiveness of design objects and which reach beyond heroization of the maker?
• What are the specific challenges of exhibiting historic decorative arts for contemporary audiences, and how might we meet those challenges?
• How do historic and contemporary objects interact in collection displays, if at all?
• Museum collections have traditionally often reinforced hegemonic and dominant histories. How might collection displays instead convey more inclusive and nuanced narratives?
• How might collection displays be more accessible to new and diverse audiences?
• How might we use the collection display to address societal and global issues?
• How might a design object that is interactive – physically and digitally – have its own presence and be successfully displayed within a collection installation?
• How do collection displays change within house museums?

We welcome submissions that touch on any of the questions above, as well as explorations that go beyond these topics. We also invite contributions that look towards possible futures of collection displays.

We look forward to meeting in person to discuss and debate an ever-changing field – a conversation between scholars and practitioners across borders, institutions and disciplines.

An international anthology based on the conference presentations is planned.  

Conference Archive

• 2025 Dubai, UAE (together with GLASS, COSTUME and DEMHIST)
• 2025 Oslo, Norway
• 2024 Salem, USA
• 2023 Lisbon, Portugal
• 2022 Prague, Czech Republic (together with COSTUME and GLASS)
• 2021 Online "Revivals"
• 2020 Online "Hidden Gems"
• 2019 Kyoto, Japan (together with ICFA and GLASS)
• 2018 Baku, Azerbaijan (together with DEMHIST)
• 2017 Miami, USA
• 2016 Milan, Italy
• 2015 Krakow and Warsaw, Poland
• 2014 Graz, Austria and Ljubljana, Slovenia
• 2013 Zurich, Switzerland
• 2011 Istanbul, Turkey
• 2010 Shanghai, China (together with DEMHIST, GLASS and ICFA)
• 2010 Rotterdam, The Netherlands
• 2009 Hannover, Germany
• 2008 Zagreb, Croatia
• 2007 Vienna, Austria
• 2006 Helsinki, Finland, Tallinn, Estland and Riga, Latvia
• 2005 Oslo, Norway
• 2004 Berlin, Germany
• 2003 Genoa, Italy
• 2002 Stockholm, Sweden
• 2001 Barcelona, Spain
• 2000 New York, USA
• 1999 London, UK
• 1998 Lisbon and Porto, Portugal
• 1997 Prague, Czech Republic
• 1996 Geneva, Switzerland and Lyon, France
• 1995 Florence, Italy
• 1994 Vienna, Austria
• 1993 Berlin, Germany
• 1992 Warsaw, Poland