Tricia Austin – lecture
Tuesday, May 20 at 5:30 PM
Urania – Space of Creation, Trg Eugena Kvaternika 3/3, Zagreb
Tricia Austin – workshop
Wednesday, May 21, from 9:30 AM to 5 PM
DAZ/UHA, Trg bana Josipa Jelačića 3/1, Zagreb
On Tuesday, May 20, 2025 at 5:30 p.m., the opening event of the Space as a Narrative Medium program will take place at Urania – the space of creation. The event is organized by the creative team Muze/Muses and Urania. The first lecture and workshop in the series will be held by Tricia Austin, prominent researcher and professor from Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London, expert in the development of narrative spaces and experiential design, and author and editor of a series of publications, among which stand out Narrative Environments and Experience Design: Space as a Medium of Communication and Museum Making for the publisher Routledge.
Lecture and discussion on narrative spaces
Tricia Austin will hold a lecture on both theoretical and practical tendencies in the design of narrative environments. Special emphasis will be placed on the communication potential of urban interventions and museum exhibitions. This event will focus on a critical reflection of space as an active agent in the construction of exhibition narratives. In contemporary practices of architecture, design, and museology, the potential of space to be not just a passive backdrop, but a formative element of experience and meaning is increasingly recognized.
The theoretical framework of the lecture will cover the topic of designing narrative environments, a holistic design practice that advocates for a collaborative, multidisciplinary approach to spatial design. Such collaborations go beyond the boundaries of particular disciplines, and take place across fields such as architecture, communication design, interaction design, scenography and curatorial practices. Through this approach, content and design are considered in synergy from the beginning of the creative process, while the visitor experience is explored, anticipated and included as an integral part of the planning. Narrative environments offer a valuable contribution to discussions about spatial practices, addressing how we discuss, shape, use and, most importantly, share public spaces.
In narrative environments, interaction takes place between people, narratives and spaces. People in such spaces are not just observers, but participants who move around, experience and participate in the construction of the narrative. The design of narrative environments involves a coordinated sequence of movement shaped by spatial dramaturgy – the gradation of content across space and time that serves to tell a story and communicate messages to a specific audience. Narrative space is multi-layered, taking into account architectural organization, spatial experiential design, as well as the activation of visitors’ sensory and emotional responses through various forms of media.
The lecture will be followed by a discussion moderated by Dragana Lucija Ratković Aydemir, an expert in cultural management, strategic planning in culture and tourism, and heritage interpretation. She is the director of Muze/Muses (Zagreb), a company specializing in the development of cultural and heritage projects, with a particular focus on heritage interpretation and shaping the visitor experience through permanent exhibitions.
Key questions that will guide the discussion include:
• How can museum spaces become spaces for audience participation and engagement?
• How does the interdisciplinary collaboration between architects, designers, museologists, curators and artists contribute to spatial design?
• How do stories shape museum exhibition spaces and improve the relationship between museum and audience?
The lecture will be held in English. The number of seats is limited, so please reserve your spot here. Admission is free of charge!
Creative workshop in developing spatial narrative for exhibitions
The day after the lecture, on May 21, 2025, Tricia Austin will hold a specialized workshop in the premises of the Zagreb Society of Architects (DAZ) / Croatian Association of Architects (UHA) open to everyone who wants to explore contemporary approaches to exhibition design, from museum professionals and curators to designers and architects. The workshop will focus on the practical design of narrative spaces through an interdisciplinary approach centered on the theme of imagining the future of the city.
Participants will work in small multidisciplinary teams to explore ways of designing exhibition spaces that convey personal and collective stories, and collaboratively create a narrative environment that encourages audience interaction and engagement. The workshop will begin with story development in the morning, followed by the visualization and realization of ideas (through sketching, drawing, modeling, etc.). Finally, teams will present their concepts and participate in a joint discussion and evaluation of the outcomes, which will be exhibited as an example of collaboration and innovative thinking in exhibition narratives.
The workshop will take place from 9:30 AM to 5:00 PM, with scheduled coffee and lunch breaks. The application deadline has been extended to Monday, May 19, 2025 at 12:00 PM. Applications and more information can be found at this link.
Through a series of public events in 2025, the program Space as a Narrative Medium marks the 20th anniversary of the creative work of the Muze/Muses team by showcasing new, experimental, and research-based approaches to the design of permanent exhibitions within an international cultural context. The program is supported by the Ministry of Culture and Media of the Republic of Croatia and the Goethe-Institut Kroatien.
