‘Cleaning is a cultural practice, heavy labour, ritual, a social purpose. Cleaning is an often unloved and time-consuming occupation, still mainly carried out by women*. Who cleans when, how, why and with what? What is dirt? Which view of the world is connected with it? Is cleaning limited to homes? What about role models, role ascriptions, cleaning and cleanness, economy and ecology, sustainability and migration, or religion and spirituality? And the art? ‘ as put by the Womens Museum Hittisau.

An exhibition at two locations: FMH Women's Museum Hittisau and Lech Museum.

Five strands lead the visitors through the exhibition. So beautiful, so civilised, so safe, so tidy and so pure. At the Lech Museum the focus is on ‘so invisible’.

To showcase the dualism of cleanness and griminess, used timber palettes sit in stark contrast to white gloss tiles as display surface. Mint green Wettex cleaning material sets the colour tone for the entire show at the Women’s museum and sky blue Wettex material is used at the Lech museum. Lightweight, semi-translucent mesh curtains give the room a tactile feel and help in creating backdrops for hung content. All materials are re-usable, a key design principle we followed through for this show.

The exhibition has also a lot to offer for the whole family. Our exhibition design encourages kids to engage and interact, learning more about dirt and cleanliness in a playful way. Is a pig dirty? And what is dirt anyway.