The lack of visual literacy among the viewers of contemporary art often leads to misunderstanding of works or outright failure of interpretation. On the one hand, contemporary art could be perceived as a series of easy and superficial works, mainly for entertainment, which do not rival the works of the classical authors of the past. On the other hand, there are those people who consider contemporary artworks as conceptual and blame the authors for neglecting the aesthetic part of the works. This problem leads us to understand the importance of visual literacy not only in the context of understanding contemporary art but also in interaction with mass visual culture in general. In our research, we examine the problem of visual literacy through the prism of the semiotic approach. Our goal is to improve communication between artists, curators and audiences, emphasizing the role of visual education in successful communication between the art world and its audience.In the theoretical part, it will be mentioned the research of J. Lotman, J. Baudrillard, J. A Hortin and others.This investigation also has a practical part based on contemporary artworks. Comparing theory and practice could identify the language and ways in which artists ' ideas become understandable to the public.