Communication – media and manipulation
The exchange of information has always underpinned human interaction. In the middle of the 4th millennium BCE, writing joined oral communication as a new means of exchange in the Near East. The invention of printing in the 15th century then revolutionized communication once again, since a much wider audience now had access to information at the same time. Since the 20th century, the computer and the smartphone have profoundly affected the exchange of information.
Communication is not only about a text’s content; just as important are the context, as well as the form and the medium. There can also be symbolism, which is expressed through a complex system of gestures, signs and signals. The scholarly interest in communication lies in understanding how communication works within and between societies. On the one hand, new media are emerging, often at great speed, with this covering all areas and forms of exchange. On the other, it is important to uncover the mechanisms of communication and to examine how they are used in political and social discourses. The deliberate creation of parallel and fake discourses that offer simplified or distorted news has become an instrument of political rule (fake news).
The exhibition focuses on two main areas here: the means and paths of communication; and the recipients and messages.
For a message to reach someone, it has to be comprehensible. Texts must be translated or be available in a language that everyone understands: today, this is primarily English. Another option is to work with universal images that convey the desired information without words. There are many ways to communicate not only with the living, but also with the otherworldly and the supernatural, with people having turned to the gods for advice since ancient times. Numerous votives and slips of paper with petitions on in places of pilgrimage bear witness to this practice, which is still popular today.
Article from the catalogue for the exhibition “Small disciplines – great potential”