AbstractThe article discusses the tendency of contemporary museum exhibitions to increasingly focus on creative and entertaining production rather than on restricting their presentation to objects and information. The attempt to create a contemporary communicative environment leads to an extensive use of modern media and interactive systems in museums. As a result, offerings like media guides for example, often reveal structures which appear to be comparable to the persuasive aim inherent in the classical composition of speech. Aspects like narrative storytelling and emotional design inspire the visitor to identify himself with the presentation and support his commitment to the museum as economical institution. A rhetoric analysis of the mediating processes of exhibitions show that especially digital media and its mobility and subjective handling offers many opportunities to function as an instrument of persuasive communication. Dialogic interactivity on one hand and subjective feedback on the other cause the impression of autonomous reception and therefore support the visitor’s identification with the presentation. Therefore the persuasive process in digitally supported exhibitions utilizes the user’s illusion of oratorical autonomy whereas the communication is actually controlled by the system or the museum as the programming initiator itself.
