Rarely do you get an exhibition design that questions the very value of what's being exhibited--but that's exactly what Kristin Jarmund Architects created for the Bergen Silver Collection, on display in Bergen's Museum of Decorative Arts and Design.

At first sight, the design has some brilliant functionality. With so many objects to display, the trick was to show them all at eye level. Jarmund created stacked horizontal cases that are offset from each other. That means the objects can be see from either side, from various angles, and from above and below.

Yet here's where the irony comes in: The cases themselves are stacked to suggest a magpie's nest. Jarmund chose the example of magpies because they're famous for collecting any old bit of shiny junk that catches their eye.

And that leaves viewers to wonder: Is that all we are? Just magpies, piling up whatever's shiny and expensive?

[Via PlusMood, which has more pics.]