The combination of archival research and public presentation naturally leads to explorations of, and reflections on, questions of museology. Public presentation can assume all kind of formats, but within museological practice the exhibition counts as the most important vehicle for exhibiting historical material to a wide audience.

Exhibitions have the power to frame the architectural discourse by exploring the larger cultural conditions that shape the discipline. In the same way as a world fair communicates a global condition, an exhibition of architectural drawings communicates the existence of archives and their institutional memory. International biennales often propose yet another kind of format: the exhibition as a platform for research. Archive, research, exhibition and the audience are interconnected in the production of new knowledge and values.

From the analysis of historical materials to speculations about the future, what sort of knowledge production is constituted by architectural exhibitions? Where – and who – is the audience? And what does turning an exhibition into a platform for research tell us about the state of the discipline and where it is headed? The Jaap Bakema Study Centre probes these questions in various settings, often in collaboration with international partners.