Page - 95 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 01/01

Approaching Religious Symbols in the Public Space | 95www.jrfm.eu 2015, 1/1, 95–101 Daria Pezzoli-Olgiati Approaching Religious Symbols in the Public Space Contemporary Art and Museums as Places of Negotiation? aBsTraCT This essay responds to sigrid schade’s contribution by outlining the multilayered meaning-making processes deployed by the use of religious symbolism in visual cul- ture. referring in a concise way to a selected example of contemporary art, it drafts possible methodological approaches to a challenging field of research. KeyWOrDs religious symbols, public space, arts, museum, tradition, visual culture BiOGraPhy Daria Pezzoli-Olgiati is a professor of the study of religion at the University of Zurich and director of the interdisciplinary Centre for religion, economy and Politics (ZrWP). in 1996, she received her PhD and in 2002, she completed her habilitation in the study of religion at the University of Zürich. since 2004 she has held a swiss National sci- ence foundation Professorship. in the same year, she founded the reseach group ‘Media and religion’ (www.religionswissenschaft.uzh.ch/medien). her main teaching and research interest focuses on theories and methods of the study of religion, space and gender theories in the study of religion, the interaction between religion, visual communication and media, the role of religion in the public space and religious tradi- tions in the european history of religions and in the contemporary world. her latest publications include Religion in Cultural Imaginary. Exploration in Visual and Material Practices, 2015, and Religious Representation in Place. Exploring Meaningful Spaces at the Intersection of the Humanities and Sciences, 2014, coedited with Mark K. George. Depending on the period and culture as well as on the socio-political context, the re- lationship between visual representation and religion has been articulated in a broad range of fashions. from the paradigm of art as a religious practice to a radical criti- cism of religion by visual means (Vera frenkel’s This is your Messiah Speaking, dis-