The research intends to tackle the museum’s heritage through the lens of architecture, specifically that of liminal spaces. The study of liminal spaces is still underrated if not neglected in the ...museum’s discourse, and the role that architecture plays in enhancing visitors’ experiences is a perspective not profoundly examined in museum studies. Only an introductory investigation into the museum’s liminal spaces recently opened the discourse on the potentialities of this multifaced dimension. This paper intends to dwell on the potential of liminal spaces to build up commitment to the heritage discourse of the museum. To do this, the aim is to highlight how architecture design can help to accommodate social and educational processes that are determining in shaping the heritage meaning making. A comparison between identities and morphologies of the museum’s architecture is analysed by selecting six case studies through their affordances and performances at the museum’s threshold. The selection is narrowed to a specific typology of museum characterised by the coexistence of historical buildings and contemporary additions and considered relevant to the discourse. The case studies analysis showed that contemporary museums’ additions could be considered a strategic device to enhance the heritage and involve socio-educational processes in the museum-heritage meaning-making.
This article addresses the role of language and quality translation in museum communication. The production of texts in museums is increasingly demanding as institutions are asked to rethink ...audience-oriented actions in co-design and diversity. This study is based on data provided by audio guides made available online to engage the public and provide free educational materials, something especially relevant in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The analysis indicates that quality materials are crucial in understanding the exhibits and that accessibility may profit from multilingualism. We argue that tailoring texts can improve translation quality and provide more stimulating materials to diverse audiences.
Drawing on research on narrative theory (Baker, 2006, 2014) in translation and interpretation studies, on the interdisciplinary relationship between translation studies and the visual and performing ...arts, and on the principal diversities between media discourse representations and aesthetic constructions on the topic of the migration crisis, this study addresses the issue of transferring cultural difference and language diversity within public and digital spaces through the telling and visualization of authentic stories belonging to migrant people, which contribute to the reversal of anti-refugee media discourses. Against the lens of a political reframing of migrant communities in the arts, translation, in collaboration with the aesthetics of migration, is scrutinised from a non-mainstream perspective that involves acts of interventionism and resistance, collaboration and solidarity, adaptation and performance. Evidence is given by the scrutiny of a corpus composed of visual and performing arts, which includes Queens of Syria, Odisseo Arriving Alone, Project#RefugeeCameras, and Porto M.
Museum as an institution has been, throughout history, inevitably connected with ideology, involved in establishing and shaping of cultural memory, and crea-tion and affirmation of collective ...identities, based on scientific knowledge and interpretation of the past. Nowadays, other, more effective media are involved in those processes, e.g. film, which is examined in the paper as such a medium. Also, museums and media have been used for spreading different prejudices and stereotypes – some of our identities are often based on such preju-dices, either about our own or somebody else’s past or present. Nevertheless, museum as an institution has an aura of highest authority, based on scientific knowledge and legitimized by museum collections. Museum is seen as trustworthy, unbiased and objective. Such privileged status of museums is argued and contested, and the complexities of museum discourse are traced through critical analysis of the current policy of the American Museum of Natural History in New York and this muse-um’s participation in the production of a movie Night at the Museum (2006). As part of a “global village,” museum visitors are impacted by certain stereotypical images circulating within and outside of museums, which are a dense package of ideas (rooted in science, folklore, ide-ology, politics, etc.) that thrive in cultural memory and collective imagination. These are constructed and circu-lated as commonsense or consensus narratives, en-trenched in the minds of the public, and they can take hold persistently against current scientific opinions. Mass media images that museum visitors bring with them to the museum are inevitably shaping their inter-pretations of exhibitions. What happens then, when a museum gets involved with Hollywood industry? What are the consequences of such an interaction? This pa-per’s aim is to shed some light on those consequences in the particular case of the AMNH.
Museums depend on language to develop their museum discourse. Texts are necessary and cover a wide range of functions. Language can be presented in oral or written form, but in both cases, ...translation is essential to complete the communicative function of the museum. The translated word is intended for a foreign audience, and the translation must consider the subordination of the source text to the works on display, and its position in the hierarchy of the museum's other texts. In the museums of Madrid's art triangle, the written word, the spoken word, and the translated word are present; all three museums follow an appropriate strategy in terms of the translation of the texts that they produce. Through a detailed analysis of the audio guides offered in these museums of Madrid, chosen as an example of oral text, and the catalogues of temporary exhibitions, chosen as an example of written text, we conclude that orality or writing can influence certain translatology aspects, such as the choice of target language(s) or the authorship of translations.
Museum discourse is not inclusive in that it neglects or negates the affective potential of museums. Affect is precognitive sensation, it is unexpected, and leaves a more lasting impression than ...re-cognition. The museum’s role in the shaping of histories, and its origins in class and gender exploitation are important areas of discourse, however, the focus on these issues also limits discourse. Ideologically driven critique seems unable to explain the experiential affect of exhibits of art and material culture. Arguably, an alternative museum with a contradictory set of meanings has always existed alongside the rational museum of critical discourse. Some critics do acknowledge that their disciplines seem unable to grapple with this ‘alternative museum’, however, there is not a critical vocabulary of affect with which to give it appropriate expression. Gilles Deleuze’s philosophical ideas give relevance to affect, and are useful in shaping or ‘shocking’ a way toward a more inclusive critical discourse, which might lead toward more inclusive museum practices.
Museums depend on language to develop their museum discourse. Texts are necessary and cover a wide range of functions. Language can be presented in oral or written form, but in both cases, ...translation is essential to complete the communicative function of the museum. The translated word is intended for a foreign audience, and the translation must consider the subordination of the source text to the works on display, and its position in the hierarchy of the museum's other texts. In the museums of Madrid's art triangle, the written word, the spoken word, and the translated word are present; all three museums follow an appropriate strategy in terms of the translation of the texts that they produce. Through a detailed analysis of the audio guides offered in these museums of Madrid, chosen as an example of oral text, and the catalogues of temporary exhibitions, chosen as an example of written text, we conclude that orality or writing can influence certain translatology aspects, such as the choice of target language(s) or the authorship of translations.
Los museos dependen del lenguaje para elaborar su discurso museístico. Los textos son necesarios y cubren funciones muy diversas. El lenguaje se puede presentar de forma oral o escrita, pero en ambos casos la traducción resulta fundamental para completar la función comunicativa del museo. La palabra traducida se dirige al público extranjero y la traducción se debe realizar teniendo en cuenta tanto la subordinación del texto origen a las obras expuestas, como su posición en la jerarquía de los otros textos del museo. En los museos del triángulo del arte de Madrid está presente la palabra escrita, la palabra hablada y la palabra traducida; los tres museos siguen una estrategia adecuada en cuanto a la traducción de los textos que producen. Mediante el análisis detallado de las audioguías que se ofertan en estos museos madrileños, elegidas como ejemplo de texto oral, y de los catálogos de exposiciones temporales, elegidos como ejemplo de texto escrito, llegamos a la conclusión de que la oralidad o la escritura puede influir en ciertos aspectos traductológicos, como en la elección de la(s) lengua(s) meta(s) o en la autoría de las traducciones.
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