Designing Atmosphere: Exhibition Design as a Medium of Interpretation. A Case Study from the National Museum of Transylvanian History
Designing Atmosphere: Exhibition Design as a Medium of Interpretation. A Case Study from the National Museum of Transylvanian History

Summary/Abstract: In recent decades, exhibition design has evolved from a secondary framing device into an active medium of communication – one that participates in shaping narratives, constructing atmospheres, and guiding visitor interpretation. This transformation reflects a broader shift in contemporary museology, where static displays give way to dynamic spatial experiences. This article explores how contemporary exhibition design reinterprets historical content in such contexts. Using the exhibition Forgotten Warriors and Eternal Adornments. Barbarian Migrators during the Crisis of the Roman Empire (Fifth–Sixth Centuries CE) at the National Museum of Transylvanian History as a case study, it investigates how scenography and spatial strategies – such as layout, lighting, materiality, and sound – mediate the relationship between objects, space, and visitor interpretation. The design narrative is structured around three central themes: migration, landscape, and archaeology. The methodology combines visual analysis with a visitor questionnaire and shows that design acted as a co-author of the curatorial narrative, extending the initial themes through landscape and materiality; the article thus proposes atmosphere as a critical curatorial infrastructure and argues for rethinking history exhibitions as multisensory and spatial experiences.

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