Page - 18 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 01/01

18 | Marie-Therese Mäder and Daria Pezzoli-Olgiati www.jrfm.eu 2015, 1/1, 9–19 age when linear reception of media is no longer the norm, with interactivity now com- mon in the everyday experience of digital communication. The second section looks at the interaction of media and religion through the lens of gender. Two aspects are crucial in this section: media often use religion to subvert or reiterate gender roles, and religion is also understood as a fundamental aspect of gender identities. The section also considers the link between analysis of media and religion and the embedded concept of religion. in the main contribution in this section, (Re)Making a Difference. Religion, Media- tisation, and Gender, Mia lövheim analyses the representation strategies of two of the commercials, those produced by Catholics Come home and Coca-Cola, in light of the mediatisation of religion. she shows how gender roles are transmitted and rein- forced in these processes by challenging traditional and conventional understandings of religion. in Staging the Dead. The Material Body as a Medium for Gender and Religion Anna-Katharina Höpflinger describes how the dead body and the clothing in which it is placed can be used to mediate binary gender schemes, which can also be subvert- ed by death rituals involving the handling of the mortal remains in a roman Catholic context. Bärbel Beinhauer-Köhler’s contribution, Mediality and Materiality in the His- tory of Religion. A Medieval Case Study about Religion and Gender in In-Between Spaces, focuses on religious infrastructure donated by women in twelfth-century Cairo, and in reconsidering textual and archaeological findings, Beinhauer-Köhler questions the paradigm of the male hegemony over the definition of public space. The third section, with its interest in contemporary art, considers how art refers to religious motives and constellations not only in single works but also in exhibitions and installations. in contemporary society, religion plays a central role within various branches of artistic production. From a theoretical perspective, the specific relation- ship between religion and media in contemporary artistic production and reception leaves us to wonder whether religious symbols in contemporary art, in performances and in author films are used for social criticism and whether references to religious traditions might even constitute a new form of religion. What methods might be used to explore this relationship? in the main contribution in this section, Religion, Belief and Medial Layering of Com- munication. Perspectives from Studies in Visual Culture and Artistic Productions, sigrid schade analyses a case of medial layering of communication. Working on visual cul- ture, she explores Vera frenkel’s performance This is Your Messiah Speaking (1990) in which frenkel criticises consumption culture and generates a media criticism through religious references. in Cross-Media Transmission Processes. Marian figures in Todo sobre mi madre (Pedro almodóvar, es 1999) Natalie fritz elucidates how religious concepts and motives are transmitted through films, with meaning-making processes shifted and the dominant reading questioned. Daria Pezzoli-Olgiati’s contribution, Approaching Religious Symbols in the Public Space. Contemporary Art and Museums as Places of Negotiation?, considers the function of religion as displayed in works of art