E-R Design: the Aesthetics of Everyday Life in the Cultural Institutes of Emilia-Romagna

A Project for the Cultural Heritage

Abstract

In 2011, the Institute for the Artistic, Cultural and Natural Heritage of the Emilia-Romagna region began a wide-ranging research study on the various typologies of museums and collections with design objects existing in the region. The research was conducted by Claudia Collina, a civil servant specialized in the cultural heritage, a historian and contemporary art critic, and Laura Carlini Fanfogna, then head of the Museum and Cultural Heritage Service of that Institute.
The inquiry, conducted with a multi-factorial approach – the relationship between art and technique, between industry and craft, and industrial design from the industrial revolution to the present – had a triple objective: the creation of a database of design in Emilia-Romagna as part of the Catalogue of the Cultural Heritage (PatE-R); the publication of a book describing the study, extended to the context and the functional aspects pertinent to the design in the survey; the beginning of a reflection on the issue. This account gives an overview of the phases of the project and analyses the e-book produced upon the conclusion of the census.
It should be mentioned that the results are now available to scholars on the IBC website, with an interface that links the user to the institutions involved and the completed database.