The museum as a charged space

In this chapter, we present a conceptual and analytical understanding of the re-use of museum artworks and objects through digital and social media, and how this re-use positions museums in a field of tension between economic and political logic and creative empowerment. The chapter approaches digital museum communication from the perspective of the museum as a charged space, referring to the museum’s historical, cultural, and political significance as an institution that produces, maintains, and presents our common identity, history, and heritage. Drawing on Bourdieu’s field of cultural production, position-takings, and space of possibles (Bourdieu, 1993), the chapter discusses the duality of digital museum communication and relates this to how the museum’s ability to charge its objects with certain values and meanings is used to promote political and commercial goals.