What is narrative: Discursive aspects of exhibition storytelling
- Authors: Lichagina A.P.1
-
Affiliations:
- Russian State University for the Humanities
- Issue: No 3 (2025)
- Pages: 121 - 153
- Section: ARTICLES
- URL: https://medbiosci.ru/2312-7899/article/view/359741
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.23951/2312-7899-2025-3-121-153
- ID: 359741
Cite item
Full Text
Abstract
There are numerous interpretations concerning the definition of narrative in modern Russian literary discussions about art exhibitions. Following the proposed methodology, an exhibition can be considered as a product of human activity (realized by curators, art managers, etc.). At the same time, any text about an art exhibition can be presented as a product of human cognitive process. The semiotic approach allows us to consider the exposition as a kind of a communicative sign system, potentially capable of conveying a certain message. Nowadays, polysemantic interpretations of narrative become extremely complex due to the numerous verbal-spatial components prevalent in contemporary expositions. The article offers a sample of 134 Russian texts describing exhibition projects using narrative terminology. Discursive elements, originally presented in the format of objective knowledge, are isolated and classified using the de-objectification method. Different types of cognitive attitudes (contextual, methodological, psychophysiological, philosophical, social, cultural, mythological, religious and natural science) are distinguished, some of them are presented explicitly, sometimes they remain hidden. The systematization of various combinations with the word narrative allows us to more clearly indicate the complex position of authors regarding the understanding of narrative. The frequency of mentioning and situational variability of using the concept of exhibition narrative are clarified. The article proposes an ontological scheme of the concept of exhibition narrative, including the initial pattern of connections between the created texts and the specificity of the process of cognition of the abstract term. The results obtained can be used by researchers as a tool for comparison between texts based on different understandings of the same term. Further research on exhibition narrative can be conducted using formal and logical organization of existing knowledge.
Keywords
About the authors
Anastasia Pavlovna Lichagina
Russian State University for the Humanities
Author for correspondence.
Email: li.ana.033@gmail.com
Moscow, Russian Federation
References
- Bal, M. (2017). Narratology: Introduction to the theory of narrative. University of Toronto Press.
- Barthes, R. (1966). Introduction à l'analyse structurale des récits. Communications, Recherches sémiologiques: l'analyse structurale du récit, 8, 1–27.
- Biryukova, M. V., & Nikonova, A. A. (2022). Iskusstvo kak ideya i kontsept: k probleme prochteniya kuratorskikh proektov [Art as idea and concept: On the problem of reading curatorial projects]. Mezhdunarodnyy zhurnal issledovaniy kul'tury, 1(46), 18–35. https://doi.org/10.52173/2079-1100_2022_1_18
- Biryukova, M. V., & Chumis, A. E. (2022). Aktualizatsiya iskusstva nonkonformizma v sovremennykh muzeynykh proektakh [Actualization of nonconformist art in contemporary museum projects]. Muzey. Pamyatnik. Nasledie, 1(11), 141–149.
- Boyd, R. L., Blackburn, K. G., & Pennebaker, J. W. (2020). The narrative arc: Revealing core narrative structures through text analysis. Science Advances, 6(32), 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aba2196
- Broden, T. (2022). John Pier (ed.), Contemporary French and Francophone Narratology. Actes Sémiotiques, 126. https://www.unilim.fr/actes-semiotiques/7518
- Centineo, S. (2023). A dimensionless narrative: From exhibition design to the art of display. In E. Duarte & A. Di Roma (Eds.), Developments in design research and practice II (pp. 57–69). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-32280-8_5
- Chaumier, S., & Chare, N. (2020). Writing and the exhibition: The structures of museum revolutions. Canadian Art Review, 45(1), 22–35.
- Cicero. (1942). On the orator: Books 1–2. (E. W. Sutton & H. Rackham, Trans.). Harvard University Press.
- Gritsanov, A. A., Rumyantseva, T. G., & Mozheyko, M. A. (2002). Istoriya filosofii: entsiklopediya [History of philosophy: Encyclopedia]. Interpresservis; Knizhnyy Dom.
- Kipyatkova, E. V. (2021). Vystavka kak Gesamtkunstwerk: kuratorskiy narrativ protiv esteticheskoy avtonomii proizvedeniya iskusstva [Exhibition as Gesamtkunstwerk: Curatorial narrative vs. aesthetic autonomy of artwork]. In Vtoroy rossiyskiy esteticheskiy kongress [The Second Russian Aesthetic Congress] (pp. 256–258). Gumanitarnyy universitet.
- Koreneva, A. Yu. (2015). Muzeynaya ekspozitsiya kak tekst: teoreticheskie aspekty [Museum exhibition as text: Theoretical aspects]. Elektronnoe nauchnoe izdanie Al'manakh Prostranstvo i Vremya, 10(1). http://j-spacetime.com/actual%20content/t10v1/t10v1_PDF/2227-9490e-aprovr_e-ast10-1.2015.115.pdf
- Lichagina, A. P. (2024). Narratologicheskiy algoritm v skhemakh analiza vystavochnogo povestvovaniya [Narratological algorithm in schemes of exhibition narrative analysis]. Artikul't, 4(56), 5–18. https://doi.org/10.28995/2227-6165-2024-4-5-18
- Lotman, Yu. M. (2002). Stat'i po semiotike kul'tury i iskusstva [Articles on semiotics of culture and art]. Akademicheskiy proekt.
- Maslov, E. S. (2020). Chto takoe narrativ? [What is narrative?]. Kazan University.
- Matveeva, T. V. (2010). Polnyy slovar' lingvisticheskikh terminov [Complete dictionary of linguistic terms]. Feniks.
- Nachtergael, M. (2021). Narrations curatoriales: Écritures de l'exposition, fictions et récits dans l'art contemporain. Captures. Figures, théories et pratiques de l'imaginaire*, 6(2), 1–13. https://doi.org/10.7202/1088410ar
- Obdalova, O. A., & Levashkina, Z. N. (2019). Ponyatie "narrativ" kak fenomen kul'tury i ob"ekt diskursivnoy deyatel'nosti [The concept of "narrative" as a cultural phenomenon and object of discursive activity]. Yazyk i kul'tura, 48, 332–348. https://doi.org/10.17223/19996195/48/21
- Oudsten, F. (2016). Space. Time. Narrative: The exhibition as post-spectacular stage. Routledge.
- Starovoytova, I. A. (2019). Narrativnyy podkhod k sozdaniyu vystavok kak sposob kommunikatsii muzeya s ekskursantami [Narrative approach to exhibition creation as a way of museum communication with visitors]. Mir russkogo slova, 3, 105–107. https://doi.org/10.24411/1811-1629-2019-13105
- Todorov, T. (1969). Grammaire du Décaméron. Mouton.
- Tyupa, V. I. (2020). Na puti k istoricheskoy narratologii [Towards historical narratology]. Novyy filologicheskiy vestnik, 3(54), 32–54.
- Khaminova, A. A., & Zil'berman, N. N. (2014). Theory of intermediality in the context of contemporary humanities. Vestnik Tomskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta, 389, 38–45.
- Shteyn, S. Yu. (2020). Matritsa gumanitarnoy nauki: metodologicheskiy traktat [Matrix of humanities: Methodological treatise]. RSUH.
- Yu, V. (2022). Narrativnaya strategiya vystavok na temu "Krasnogo Kitaya": na primere vystavki "stoletie so dnya osnovaniya kommunisticheskoy partii Kitaya" [Narrative strategy of exhibitions on "Red China" theme: Case study of "Centenary of the Communist Party of China" exhibition]. Filosofiya i kul'tura, 7, 117–123. https://doi.org/10.7256/2454-0757.2022.7.38400
Supplementary files

