Museet i en digital värld : En visuell analys av Nationalmuseums digitaliserade verksamheter

Sammanfattning: Digital technology has changed the nature of how humans live as a society with lives orbiting a digital core of internet, smartphones, social media etc. There is now not only a physical world but a digital one too. This far-reaching transformation also applies to cultural institutions to digitize their activities, a result of responding to the expectations of a contemporary audience. The aim of this study is to examine the digitization of art- and cultural heritage in a digital world. The essay examines the digital activities of the Swedish National Museum of fine art that has developed before, during and as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. This is done through visual analysis and the theoretic framework of postphenomenology and social semiotics. The study finds that cultural heritage can be digitized in many different ways but that the digitization can’t replace the physical encounter with an artwork. Yet it can constitute new ways and perspectives on how to experience, see and discuss traditional works of art. Digitization of cultural heritage can therefore work to enhance its general interest, disseminate and influence an increase in availability of knowledge about cultural heritage and art history.