溝通的「物」與「物」的溝通:談博物館文化商品的本質、角色與可能性

Communicative Objects and Communications Among Objects : The Development Strategy of Cultural Commodity from the Museum's View

本文立足於博物館的觀察角度，嘗試去剖析與釐清和博物館文化商品相關的基本議題，包括：文化商品的崛起與定義，台灣博物館文化商品的現況觀察，文化商品在博物館中所扮演的角色與功能，以及文化商品的本質，最後並以上述基本議題之論述結果為分析工具，嘗試對博物館文化商品開發設計策略提出新的思考途徑。透過現況觀察與分析，可以發現：博物館文化商品的四大類別中，以衍生性商品最被看好，同時也是目前與未來的發展重點；而綜觀之，往昔慣以「物」的展示作為溝通手段的博物館，進一步藉由「物」的創造（即文化商品）來延伸、轉化溝通的能量與溝通的可能。結論發現：文化商品是博物館用以面對挑戰和強化博物館活力的一種積極手段，同時也是與社會大眾溝通的新媒介；藉由大眾所熟悉的商品消費方式，既可善用博物館獨特的蒐藏、研究與展示資源，同時又能為博物館帶來經濟上的利益，以及塑造良好的博物館品牌形象。而所謂的「善用」博物館資源，主要思考途徑有二：一是建構文化商品意義時，必須裁剪博物館原有的溝通意義，意義的重要程度，意義是否成為溝通的總結，以及意義可以經過再詮釋，皆是思考的重點；此外，無形內容的呈現，還有焦點文物背後之意義脈絡，也應列入考慮。主要途徑之二，當對於商品意義進行詮釋時，具體的呈現則是商品的形式，除了成本預算與商品售價的限制之外，文化商品應藉由實用性而跟大眾的日常生活有所關聯；而所謂的關聯，主要來自於消費者與文化商品間的多種互動方式，此外借用社會流行話題的影響力，也是可能的思考之一。

This article tried to analyze and clarify the basic issues of museum-related cultural commodity, which included its beginning and definition, the observation of its current situations, its roles and functions played at the museums and its essence. By using these issues as analytical tools to provide new thinking, museums can develop and design strategies for their cultural commodity. Museums, which are accustomed to use objects as communication means to display their exhibitions, can use cultural commodity as the creation of objects to extend and convert the power and possibility of communication. Cultural commodity gives museums a positive way to face challenges and reinforce vitality and it is also a new medium for public communication. Through the public's familiar ways of merchandise consumption, the museums' unique collections, researches and exhibition resources can be well utilized to generate economical profits and create a good brand image for the museums. So-called well-utilization of museum resources can be considered in two major ways: firstly, in constructing the meaning of cultural commodity, the underlying meanings of the focused objects should be considered. Secondly, in addition to the restrictions of cost budget and sale price, the cultural commodity should be practically connected to the public daily life. Besides, using the influence of the popular social topics could also be one of the possible ways.