The regional art museum as a subject of social communication

The aim of the study is to identify the essence of the subjectivity of the regional art museum by considering it as a universal cultural phenomenon that manifests universal common generic characters in various sociocultural conditions. The study is based on materials from Russian and foreign studies in the field of cultural studies, history, and sociology. The methodological basis was the activity, structural-functional, and semiotic approaches. The author explores the ultimate state of the museum in the system of cultural life, indicating that in any social conditions its essence consists not only in the preservation of collections, but also in their actualization through educational and sociocultural activities. The totality of museum visitors is interpreted as one of the components of its subjectivity, along with collections and staff. The number of visitors depends on the uniqueness of the museum, which is also an integral part of subjectivity. It is determined that the activities of the museum cannot be fully tied to the goals and objectives of cultural policy, since museum collections potentially have a comprehensive value. Participation in cultural policy therefore acts only as an element constituting the subjectivity of the museum. The author indicates that an important task of the work of the regional art museum is to popularize the culture of the region at the national and global levels, realizing which, such a museum becomes the subject of world culture. It is emphasized that the museum provides a communicative connection between generations, while acting as a subject organizing its own metacommunicative space. In this space, cultural meanings are reconstructed and the dialectical tension of communication is allowed. It has been established that the museum realizes the resource potential of its collections through value differentiation of the results of artistic creation and art, as well as by placing cultural heritage in relevant aspects of social discourse. The author concludes that the essence of the subjectivity of the regional art museum consists in making social investments in the form (accessible exclusively to this institution) of strengthening the value of the cultural heritage of the region that it preserves. Regional and national cultural policies normatively and strategically regulate the sociocultural activities of the regional art museum, but do not limit its subjectivity in social communication and activities. At the same time, the subjectivity of the museum largely determines its image and social success.