The virtual hole in the road

As the liminal space between actual and virtual continues to blur, how will the technologies of extended reality (XR) alter our perception of ‘Place’? Will they facilitate visits to locations that are traditionally prohibited or beyond our thresholds? Immersive technology provides an opportunity to transcend linear time consciousness and observe multiple histories of the same location simultaneously. Can it also provide an effective platform for on-site heritage narratives and experiences that are otherwise difficult to exhibit? How does the VR recreation of a lost piece of urban fabric help a community reconnect with its history? Do virtual representations of a place possess a cognitive key of ‘spatial presence’ capable of unlocking real memories in our minds? Can a regularly-visited and seemingly-mundane place become ‘special’ to us, even if we are unaware of its importance and—if so—could ‘mirrorworld’ digital recreations help to incubate and foster such feelings? Or will unique virtual environments, with no relation to the real world, become the special places that we remember and cherish?

To offer some answers to these questions, I will share my experiences and insights as project lead on The Virtual Hole in the Road (2016) – a VR version of a former Sheffield brutalist landmark. I will examine the key findings of the project and what it tells us about the potential of VR environments to construct new narrative paradigms in which readers become participants whose memories and histories are dynamically woven into the experience of virtual texts.