Conservating Traditional Heritage in the Digital Age: A Virtual Reality Approach to Preserving Folk Culture

Over the past decade, an increase in young people’s engagement with social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok has led to a concerning trend: a growing disregard for their own folk cultures. This cultural disconnect has resulted in widening generation gaps and frequent intergenerational miscommunications, thereby posing a threat to the preservation of traditional cultures. The presented experimental research represents an innovative project aimed at documenting and preserving folk culture using Virtual Reality (VR) technology. This is accomplished by digitally recreating cultural artifacts and symbolic objects within a virtual environment and narrating stories in a spatial context. Our theoretical framework is informed by the concept of ‘narrating space and spatializing narrative’ proposed by Ryan (2015) and Ryan, Foote, and Azaryahu (2016). The Mid-Autumn Festival, a widely celebrated event in many Asian countries, serves as a case study to illustrate this concept. Our VR project conveys folk culture by integrating text, images, symbolic objects, and audio-visual elements within a narrative space. At the heart of our project are ten photogrammetry-scanned 3D models of symbolic objects from the real world, providing users with an immersive educational experience. Our VR application employs a narrative structure featuring chronological and thematic storylines, ensuring a coherent user journey. By adopting this spatial narrative approach, our aim extends beyond preserving the cultural richness of the Mid-Autumn Festival. In conclusion, the VR application offers a platform through which folk cultures from around the world can be preserved, celebrated, and shared with a wider audience.