Museumskommunikation als Dimension der Kunstkommunikation.

Abstract

Art communication is a functional and specialized form of social communication constituting the meaning of art. It includes museum communication, understood not only as a transfer of individual and social knowledge about exhibits, but also as an opportunity to encounter art. The museum is thus a learning place as well as a space for experiences, emotions and relational exchanges. This thematic issue deals with the role of language in museum communication concerning figurative art, in its relation both to other expression modes and to the target audiences with their different languages and cultures. Within this framework the active role of museum visitors in the reception of exhibited works, stimulated by the use of new technological formats, is discussed too. In particular, the papers focus on three main aspects: the interaction between iconic and verbal language, the need for a target-oriented (multimodal) museum communication, and the investigation of multilingual and culture-specific knowledge transmission strategies.