DOES MUSEUM MARKETING MEET POSTMODERN CONDITIONS?

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to explore how museum marketing meets postmodern conditions. Based on a sample of 12 museums in Istanbul, Turkey, a qualitative study was conducted to evaluate whether museum marketing meets the five conditions of postmodernism, namely decentered subject, reversal of production and consumption, fragmentation, juxtaposition of opposites and hyperreality. The findings of this study reveal that the marketing practices of museums meet all conditions of postmodernism except that of the decentered subject. They also demonstrate that museum managers hold negative attitudes towards the decentered subject, mainly due to their resistance to intermediaries between the exhibition and the audience.