The Syntax and Semantics of Modelling Exhibition Spaces: A Case Study of the Hryhorii Skovoroda National Literary and Memorial Museum, Ukraine

Abstract

The aim of this article is to analyse the exhibition semantics of the exposition of the H.S. Skovoroda National Literary and Memorial Museum (Ukraine, Kharkiv region). The authors substantiate the concept of dearchaisation of Skovoroda’s image by means of modelling the syntax and semantics of the exhibition space. According to the authors, exhibition design cannot ignore symbolism, as the principles of cultural consumption of “places of memory” function in the stream of consumption of a work of art. The viewer does not come for the subject, but for emotions and experience. Therefore, design should go beyond the physical properties of objects, subjects, compositions, and so on, and the content of any design should ultimately be the conditions for gaining new experience. The relationship between the material (object) and the imaginary (interpretation) is projected at the intersection of exhibition syntax and semantic modelling.