Page - 43 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 03/02

SinnRäume. An Exhibition | 43www.jrfm.eu 2017, 3/2, 37–51 to reveal processes of forming meaning and communicating information.14 she examined the structures and processes of the generation and mediation of meaning in the medium of the museum exhibit.15 the medium of the exhibition becomes a speech act on the part of the curators to the visitors. the curators encode their statements, for example in the form of the objects they choose to exhibit, the correlations made between them, how they are arranged, the spa- tial configuration of the exhibition and the lines of sight, the implicit rhetoric, and the content of the explanatory texts.16 in a museum exhibit, visitors learn about the things being shown and their meaning from the curator’s perspec- tive. in addition to the overarching mediation and communication act that takes place through the content of the exhibition itself, various processes of coding and decoding take place within the exhibit. the generation of meaning is also affected – consciously or unconsciously – by the form of presentation.17 on the basis of these theoretical considerations, the practical design of an exhibition must address not only the content but also the form of communication. With the challenges that emerge with the communication of religious ideas and in light of consideration of theoretical assumptions and the reflection of created meaning, we are required to ask how new experience-based museology and mediation concepts can be combined with a specifically religious studies ap- proach that claims neutrality. how, we wondered, might we design such an ex- hibition? applying media techniques and technologies, SinnRäume attempts to consid- er exhibition concepts as a medium for a communication act involving curator and visitor. in order to achieve this communication a balance between media- tion, guidance, and vacancies (that is, space and impulses for the creation of meaning by the visitor) needs to be established. the exhibition space as such will shape the visitors’ awareness of the theme of the exhibit. the target audience of the Museum of religions is both academ- ic and non-academic. in consideration of the frequent visits of school groups to the museum, emphasis was placed in our exhibition design on experience- based mediation, identification, and emotional affects. Religiosity and religious practices were to be made experienceable – but they had also to be contextualized and explained as objectively as possible.18 in the presentation of these religious concepts, a balanced composition was as im- portant as it was difficult to implement. The route the visitor takes through the architecture of the exhibition, the installations, and the depicted private spaces 14 Scholze 2010, 121–149. 15 Scholze 2004; Paine 2012, 4–9. 16 scholze 2004, 11. 17 scholze 2004, 15. 18 Paine 2013, 6.