The Museum as Translator:Cross-Contextual Display Strategies for Cultural Heritage and Appreciation Education
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.64504/artsappreciation.v1i1.882Abstract
In an era of intensifying globalization and cultural diversity, the museum's role has shifted from traditional custodian of artefacts to active cultural translator. This paper examines translation strategies employed in the cross-contextual display of cultural heritage and their application in appreciation education. Drawing on Cultural Translation theory and New Museology, the museum is conceptualized as both a "contact zone" and a "third space." Through case studies of the China and South Asia Gallery at the British Museum and Dunhuang art exhibitions at the Hong Kong Heritage Museum, the paper reveals how museums transform heterogeneous cultural heritage into intelligible meaning networks through spatial narrative, multimodal display, and constructivist educational strategies. Effective cross-contextual display requires not only interlingual accuracy but also cultural context reconstruction and meaning negotiation — a translatory exhibitionary strategy offering a new educational paradigm for cross-cultural appreciation.
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