CC BY
0Alexandra Yu. Koreneva
Candidate of Philosophy,
Associate Professor of the Department of Mass Communications and Media Business, Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation
Leningradsky Ave., 49, Moscow, 125167 E-mail: AYKoreneva@fa.ru
Museum as a medium: the communicative approach
Article represents a theoretical view on the role of a museum as a medium. Looking at museum from the perspective of communication and technological point of view, in a tradition of Toronto school of mass communication, it gives a new vision of how museum itself can serve as a channel, a mediator, a medium between the past and the present. Museum has always been an institution bounding civilizations and generations. Regardless of the globalization processes museum remains an elitist institution. A modern museum shares some characteristics with new media, being interactive, global, hypertextual, involving and digital.
Keywords: museum, communication, media, medium, new media museums, school of communication, Toronto, media business. JEL Classification: H41, Z11
For citation: Koreneva A.Yu. Museum as a medium: the communicative approach. Issues of Media Business, 2022, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 18-21. DOI: 10.24412/3034-1930-2022-0020
I Коренева Александра Юрьевна
! кандидат философских наук,
I доцент департамента массовых коммуникаций и медиабизнеса, | Финансовый университет при Правительстве Российской Федерации
| Ленинградский пр-т., 49, Москва, 125167 | E-mail: AYKoreneva@fa.ru
Музей как среда: коммуникативный подход
Статья представляет собой теоретический взгляд на роль музея как канала коммуникации. Взгляд на музей с точки зрения коммуникации и технологий, в традициях школы массовой коммуникации Торонто, дает новое видение того, как сам музей может служить каналом, медиатором, медиумом между прошлым и настоящим. Музей всегда был институтом, связывающим цивилизации и поколения. Несмотря на процессы глобализации, музей остается элитарным учреждением. Современный музей имеет некоторые общие характеристики с новыми медиа: он является интерактивным, глобальным, гипертекстовым, вовлекающим и цифровым.
Ключевые слова: музей, коммуникация, медиа, среда, школа коммуникации, Торонто, медиабизнес.
Для цитирования: Коренева А.Ю. Музей как среда: коммуникативный подход // Вопросы медиабизнеса. 2022. Т. 1. № 1. С. 18-21. DOI: 10.24412/3034-1930-2022-0020
Social nature of museum doesn't change through the centuries. From ancient times people tend to collect things and share their memories with descendants. The museum as a social institution has evolved tremendously from early stones and seashells collections to first public museum in 1683. Museum becomes a global humanitarian project, created by people and for the sake of people's need to keep the memories [Koreneva, 2017. P. 145]. It doesn't matter what form the museum has — an ancient temple of muses, or modern gallery, it still serves people. Thus, museum is the social institution. It is hard to imagine its existence outside the community, and it leads us to seeing museum within socio-philosophical approach.
Within numerous findings museum can be seen as cultural form [Kalugina, 2008], a forum [Cameron, 1968. P. 135], system of information [Pshenichnaya, 2000. P. 13], a tool of cultural inheritance [Kagan, Solonin, 1998. P. 29], recreational establishment [Ravikovich, 1987. P. 13], etc. Museum, surely, serves as a connection between society and state, and as a «mirror» reflecting society's values and needs. Communication is one of the major characteristics of any existing media.
Media as plural from «medium» carries out numerous functions:
• watches and analyses the agenda, processes taking place around the world;
• estimates the public reaction to the agenda;
• entertains;
• preserves and creates values and traditions.
As we can see, media and museums share functions. Stepping away from classical museums' functions, such as preservation and entertainment, in some cases museums provide the public with current global current topics by setting certain exhibitions. Yeltsin's center is the first project in Russia dedicated to the systematic study, preservation and popularization of the historical memory of Russian presidents [Yeltsin Center..]. It doesn't just popularize the historical memory, it helps to create it. So does the Museum of Political History of Russia located in Saint-Petersburg [Museum of Political...]. There are several institutes within its structure, including Children's Museum Center for Political Education.
Referring to information transmission we could also consider looking at museum as the medium. Latin term «medium» stands for an intermediary, an agent [Medium..]. Variety of terms like «intermediary», «median», «mediator» shares the same origin as something being «in the middle». F. Kotler's definition of media is that «media — communication channels through which the message moves from sender to receiver» [Kotler, 1997. P. 164]. In a spiritual context medium is someone who shares connections with the beyond, the other world.
Generally, media theory examines the effect specific communication media, modalities, and institutions have on the content. In 1994 J. Meirowitz has put together all the research made upon an idea of different media motivating forms of interaction under the term «medium theory» [Meirovitz, 1994. P. 50].
In the tradition of Frankfurt school museum can be viewed as an instrument (and as media) used by elite for power recognition and control [Benjamin, 1996. P. 23]. Undoubtedly, depending on the ruling party museum can set certain values. Louvre is worldwide known as the biggest art museum in the world, also famous for its large collections gained within the Napoleon era. Louvre itself is a historical monument. It is important to mention the fact that Louvre's holdings were formed mainly as acquisitions and donations since the Third Republic. Napoleon attached great importance to artefact and art collections fulfillment as they were representing his influence within Europe. Museum formed as a result of various conquers has become one of the most desirable to visit.
Toronto mass communication scholars (Innis H., McLuhan M., Frye N., Carpenter E.) devoted most of their findings to understanding the influence of communication technologies over the human history. Each of the researchers listed above made a significant contribution to investigate various media channels through the prism of social history not being technological determinists but admitting a great role of communication media in shaping a culture.
Shifting from stone, clay and papyrus as media to paper was a tremendous cultural change. Those civilizations, where clay tablets were the main media, were highly controlled by the reign. Due to the sacred and limited access to information and knowledge in general, very low literacy, those civilizations were easy to rule. As the information began to spread around with the invention of movable type, mass media evolves. Since the museum itself has changed many forms throughout the history, it also can be considered to be the media.
Innis claims each media to have duration over time and extension in space. Thus, his theory views all media to be either time-biased or space-biased [Innis, 2022]. Time-biased are the media which tend not to be destroyed over the time but are difficult to change and being transferred in various forms. Sculptures, hand manuscripts, oral poems of Homer have the limited number of audiences. Space-biased 19 media as paper are portable and light. Paper is easily transported but has a short period of life. Every
Alexandra Yu. Koreneva
historical form of governance is called an empire by Innis. Empires vary from those which are militaristic and conquest of space oriented, and religious that aim to conquest time. Understanding this gives a certain basis to build a thesis on.
As a place for restoring artefacts museum cannot be easily characterized within Innis's theory. Due to the various materials — from clay or stone to virtuality where the object itself doesn't exist; it makes it complicated to speak for every museum exhibit. However, some museums became more popular than other throughout the world. They used to attract more tourist interest due to their artefacts, which survived the time. People are highly interested in ancient things, because only things represent certain age to them. There is no human alive from that era, who could share the history. Things live longer than people. Sometimes the older historical space is, the more attention it gets. According to Innis it makes it possible to call a museum fulfilled with old artefacts that survived the time a time-biased media.
The more technologically well-developed museum is, the less physical boundaries it has. Modern museums could have no buildings, being totally digital. People visit the website, considering this to be their museum visit. Totally digital museums do not earn money, unless they have paid programs and exhibitions with limited Internet access. In this case digital museums can become space-biased media whereas classical museums with historical exhibits and taxonomical order are time-biased.
M. McLuhan's statement «Medium is the message» seems applicable to different forms of museums as well [McLuhan, 2003. P. 12]. People get different impressions from visiting online-exhibitions, classical art museums, interactive educational museums for children, and outdoor museums. Each of these categories can be called medium.
Traditionally museum is not considered to be a mass society institution. Rafikova K.V. claims there is massovization of museum visiting is taking place nowadays [Rafikova, 2019. P. 370]. Providing us with some statistics, she gives an overlook how the museums demonstrate a stable growth in visitor's attendance (10% increase every 5 years). Throughout the history museum welcomed those who were able to understand and exhibits and share the precious historical value as well as the feeling of beauty of art. Even though modern museums remain open to all public and are accessible to all categories of visitors, museum still could not be viewed as mass media communication channel. Despite of the numerous formats — digital, interactive, requiring visitor's feedback, welcoming to express and share visitor's opinions, museum as a medium tends to have an elitist character.
Within a philosophical perspective museum at some point could be seen a new media. By looking at the range of new media characteristics such as accessibility to large number of people, content created by users, interactivity, digitalization, hypertextuality some modern museums tend to have that tendency. Museum visitors create new meanings together with museum curators. A necessary condition for that is an ability to give the feedback in written or oral form. Museum itself should welcome and encourage its visitors to participate in all activities. In the future we can experience museums where visitors will create exhibitions themselves.
The term «New Media Museum» represents the idea of collecting and preserving media arts. Media arts are majorly photos, videos and other digital materials. Media-based works are more portable and compact comparing to traditional statues and paintings. However nowadays there are only few collections of media arts in the world. The project «New Media museums» was created in 2022 and is supported by Slovak National Gallery and Olomouc Museum of Art [New Media Museums...].
If museum is a medium, what type of media it is? Reflexing upon this question corresponds with the trend of edutainment. Edutainment as an approach is used learning and is a combination of educational and entertaining practices. As museum combines several functions, it is a center of recreation, education and entertaining in one. On one hand, it is a center of communication, on the other hand, a timeless educator. Thus, museum naturally becomes an edutainment medium, making a valuable information available for all kinds of public.
It is important to mention the alternative point of view. Some museologists, for instance, Silverstone R., argues with the perspective of considering museum a medium. Their argumentation is built upon the thesis that medium could exist without the content. In the opposite museum could not exist without the collections. The quote: «However, they (museums) are also themselves full of media» refers to objects, exhibits, collections, but not a museum an institution [Silverstone, 1994. P. 46]. Silverstone considers exhibition to be a medium though.
Parry R. mentions the importance of museum building [Parry, 2007. P. 8]. In some cases, the architecture itself is not less important than the inner content of museum. For example, the building of Hermitage palace is a wonder itself. As a medium it sends a message of the greatness of the Russian Empire was to its audience. Building of the Museum of the Future in Dubai has an interesting form with Arabic calligraphy on it saying «we may not live for hundreds of years, but the products of our creativity 20 can leave a legacy long after we are gone» [The building.]. It supports the message of development
Issues of Media Business 2022, vol. 1, no. 1
and innovation. The museum website has a section about the museum building saying, «it confidently straddles the past and the future applying advanced technology to traditional art-forms». Parry sees the comparison of museum and social media in relation to the building: «Museums, after all, are a medium — in their most common state a unique, three-dimensional, multi-sensory, social medium which knowledge is given spatial form» [Parry, 2007. P. 10].
Museology researchers tend to divide a museum as an institution, museum building and its exhibitions when speaking about the medium. This article, however, represents a different approach of looking at this issue. Within communication approach supported by major communication theory schools a museum can be seen as a social institution being a channel that transmits knowledge, information, meanings from the past to the present.
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