The term migration of form describes a curatorial method that takes aim at the contradictions of the Western museum traditions and the ways exhibitions have been conceived and designed. The method addresses transcultural entanglements in the past and present from which objects emerge, rather than working with distinctions such as art and non-art or cultural identities and concepts such as Africa or Renaissance. It proposes a new type of museum for global audiences that serves as a platform for discourses on urgent sociopolitical topics and as a space of experimentation with new ideas and forms of display. This book explains and applies the migration of form by offering insights into the curatorial method Roger M. Buergel has experimented with at Zurichs Johann Jacobs Museum and other venues in Europe and Asia. Descriptions of single exhibitions on global trade, raw materials, or artists such as Maya Deren and Allan Sekula are complemented by concise texts which illuminate the theoretical foundations of the curatorial process. Richly illustrated, the volume invites a timely and broadened view of art and cultural history.

Roger M. Buergel is a curator and has staged and directed numerous major exhibitions around the world, such as the documenta 12 (2007) in Kassel, the Busan Biennale in 2012 and the Suzhou Biennale in 2016. He has been director of the Johann Jacobs Museum in Zurich 2012-21. Sophia Prinz is a scholar of cultural studies and cultural sociology. She taught as a visiting professor of theory of design and gender studies at Berlins University of the Arts 2018-20 and worked as a scientific advisor at the Johann Jacobs Museum in Zurich 2013-21.