Data · dataset · 2026
The xDX Project
Listed in Borealis
The xDX Project is a SSHRC-funded initiative to preserve the unique history of post-war design in Canada by digitally reconstituting the former Design Exchange collection.
Description
The Design Exchange (DX) was an institution dedicated to the promotion of Canadian design as an economic and cultural activity. Located in the historic Art Deco Stock Exchange building in the heart of Toronto’s financial district, it opened its doors in 1994.
The DX began collecting postwar design in 1996 and over the years hosted exhibitions of both Canadian and international design. By acquiring, preserving, and showcasing Canadian design artefacts, the DX played a pivotal role in provoking debates about what constituted Canadian design and demonstrated the importance of design heritage for advancing both disciplinary scholarship and contemporary design practice. In 2019, the DX abruptly ceased its museum operations and deaccessioned its entire collection.
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This dismantling dealt a critical blow to the mission of public education about modern Canadian material life and culture. The deaccessioned artefacts and records of the DX collection were acquired by the Canadian Museum of History, the Royal Ontario Museum, Archives of Ontario, Carleton University, and York University. These institutions, along with LINCS and the Canadian Heritage Information Network (CHIN), have been partners in the xDX Project since 2023.
The xDX dataset, developed by the xDX Project, represents the digital reconstitution of the former Design Exchange collection. It includes several archival fonds and more than 600 artefacts designed in Canada between 1940 and 2010.
Project
Leads Jan Hadlaw - Principal Investigator, York University Michael Windover - Co-Director, Carleton University Aviva Weizman -
Project
Manager, York University Rosalind Sweeney-McCabe - Research Assistant, York University Partners York University Carleton University Canadian Museum of History Archives of Ontario Linked Infrastructure for Networked Cultural Scholarship (LINCS) Canadian Heritage Information Network (CHIN) Contributors Royal Ontario Museum Clara Thomas Archives and Special Collections, York University Libraries Audio-Visual Resource Centre, School for Studies in Art and Culture, Carleton University Funders Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada
Links
Where it is published
- Dataverse dataset page borealisdata.ca/dataset.xhtml?persistentId=doi%3A10.5683%2FSP3%2FDCHHKM ↗
landing page · from borealisdata ca
- DOI doi.org/10.5683/sp3/dchhkm ↗
DOI / persistent id · from borealisdata ca
Catalogue records · 1
- Dataverse API borealisdata.ca/api/datasets/:persistentId/?persistentId=doi%3A10.5683%2FSP3%2… ↗
metadata API · from borealisdata ca
Topics
- Stated by source
- Arts and Humanities
- From keywords
- Crafts · Engineering · Humanities · Industrial and product design
- Inferred from text
- Heart 75%
Provenance · 1 source records, 12 field assertions
| Source | Key | Last seen | Raw |
|---|---|---|---|
| Borealis | doi:10.5683/SP3/DCHHKM | 6 d ago | JSON v1 |
| Field | Assertion | Extractor | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| concepts[anatomy].local:anatomy:heart | enrichment · borealisdata ca | keyword-concept-rules@1.0.0 | title+description (75%) |
| concepts[field].anzsrc:field:330309 | mapping · borealisdata ca | vocabulary-mapper@1.0.0 | keywords['industrial design'] |
| concepts[field].anzsrc:field:360601 | mapping · borealisdata ca | vocabulary-mapper@1.0.0 | keywords['crafts'] |
| concepts[field].dataverse_subject:arts-and-humanities | source · borealisdata ca | connector:borealisdata_ca@1.0.0 | /subjects |
| concepts[field].local:field:engineering | mapping · borealisdata ca | connector:borealisdata_ca@1.0.0 | /subjects |
| concepts[field].local:field:humanities | mapping · borealisdata ca | connector:borealisdata_ca@1.0.0 | /subjects |
| created_date | source · borealisdata ca | connector:borealisdata_ca@1.0.0 | |
| description | source · borealisdata ca | connector:borealisdata_ca@1.0.0 | /description |
| publication_date | source · borealisdata ca | connector:borealisdata_ca@1.0.0 | |
| title | source · borealisdata ca | connector:borealisdata_ca@1.0.0 | /name |
| updated_date | source · borealisdata ca | connector:borealisdata_ca@1.0.0 | |
| version_label | source · borealisdata ca | connector:borealisdata_ca@1.0.0 |