Creative, collective and divergent practices in the virtualization of cultural heritage

In recent years, a myriad of three-dimensional (3D) digital doubles of our cultural heritage have grown up around us. For dissemination and communication purposes, and for the creation of pedagogical tools, study, reconstruction, or preservation, various institutions – through specific projects or associated companies – have turned to virtualizing their collections. The digital world has been filled with models that, although technically advanced, in many cases fail to activate the cultural heritage on which they are based, thus increasing the number of abandoned digital objects. Given this context, it is relevant to research creative projects that approach 3D digitization in a critical and creative way. This article will review three of them: ‘Material Speculation: ISIS’ (2015–16), ‘Antes del Olvido’ (2019) and ‘Arts Santa Mònica Official Tour’ (2021). Through their studies, we will observe the renewal of the debate about what should be preserved, the divergent and creative tactics to do so and the social implications of these processes. Finally, these cases are useful to approach heritage’s duration. The techniques call it into question and make us face our choices.