Multimodality in operation. Language and picture in a museum

Museums have traditionally been places where objects are exhibited so that visitors can come and “view” them. Today, however, museums are spaces where more complex semiotic processes take place. Exhibited objects, visualisations and verbal texts are involved in a dynamic process whereby the visitor interprets his/her experience of the museum. To understand such a process therefore needs multimodal description. This chapter applies multimodal analysis to examples from the Mozart-Wohnaus (the Mozart Residence) Museum in Salzburg, Austria. The main focus is on the interaction between pictures and spoken language. It will be seen that a closer understanding of how multimodal museum texts work can provide opportunities for museum design, to encourage an integrated interpretative experience for visitiors.