Abstract
This paper examines how to redistribute curatorial power in VR heritage exhibitions by designing actionable governance mechanisms. We conceptualize VR heritage exhibitions as political curatorial infrastructures rather than neutral storytelling media. We employ a two-stage RtD framework: first building a baseline VR stage, then embedding two mechanisms: Parallel Weave (narrative authorship) and Asynchronous Governance Lock (publishing/veto rights). With N=32 participants, analysis reveals four tensions: (1) community narratives increased affective engagement and epistemic recognition, yet (2) parallel inclusion also risked narrative segregation; (3) a visible veto established accountable workflows, but (4) this power redistribution also transferred sociopolitical risk onto community representatives, creating a burden of power. We consolidate these insights into the Memory Loom principles: Structural Weaving and Protected Accountability. Our contributions include a mechanism-oriented RtD method and transferable design principles for equitable governance in post-digital museum contexts.
Keywords
Cultural Heritage, Co-Curation, Virtual Reality
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.1938
Citation
Zhao, N., He, Z., Ming, S., Yuan, H., Sun, F., and Jiang, K. (2026) The Memory Loom: Reweaving Curatorial Power Relations with Source Communities in Virtual Reality Cultural Heritage Exhibitions, in Simeone, L., Gray, C. M., Verhoeven, A., de Götzen, A., Bakırlıoğlu, Y., Zohar, H., Stead, M., and Buwert, P. (eds.), DRS2026: Edinburgh, 8–12 June, Edinburgh, United Kingdom. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.1938
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Included in
The Memory Loom: Reweaving Curatorial Power Relations with Source Communities in Virtual Reality Cultural Heritage Exhibitions
This paper examines how to redistribute curatorial power in VR heritage exhibitions by designing actionable governance mechanisms. We conceptualize VR heritage exhibitions as political curatorial infrastructures rather than neutral storytelling media. We employ a two-stage RtD framework: first building a baseline VR stage, then embedding two mechanisms: Parallel Weave (narrative authorship) and Asynchronous Governance Lock (publishing/veto rights). With N=32 participants, analysis reveals four tensions: (1) community narratives increased affective engagement and epistemic recognition, yet (2) parallel inclusion also risked narrative segregation; (3) a visible veto established accountable workflows, but (4) this power redistribution also transferred sociopolitical risk onto community representatives, creating a burden of power. We consolidate these insights into the Memory Loom principles: Structural Weaving and Protected Accountability. Our contributions include a mechanism-oriented RtD method and transferable design principles for equitable governance in post-digital museum contexts.