From Altar to App: Displaying Devotion in the Contemporary Museum

Traditional museum displays of devotional objects tend to emphasize their status as decontextualized artworks. These displays customarily lack the richer experience of embodiment and the more complex affective responses that are accessible, by contrast, to those visiting historical sites with devotional artefacts in situ. Some museums have nonetheless attempted to counter these limitations by developing exhibition strategies that are more immersive and emotionally engaging. This article examines the recent trend to provide a deeper sense of devotional context, with a particular emphasis on the church of Sant’Agostino, Rome; the St Mungo Museum of Religious Life and Art, Glasgow; the Museum of World Religions, Taipei; and the Victoria and Albert Museum’s redesigned Medieval and Renaissance Galleries. Through a detailed analysis, the article suggests that the most effective (and affective) form of devotional display will activate a less literalist and more lateral encounter that grants visitors the agency to enter into a more evocative ‘third space’ between the artificial environment of the museum and the artefact’s position in the real world.