(Adventures in) Culturescaping

In July 2016, a group of design students from Monash University were presented with the opportunity to engage their communication design practice with the emerging interdisciplinary field of digital cultural heritage through participating in the 2016 Culturescape study abroad course. As part of an immersive researchstudio run in conjunction with the Biennale Sessions programme of the 15th Venice Architecture Biennale, these undergraduate students were challenged to conceive of designed interventions that respond to the “experimental preservation” of Venice. Taking inspiration from the Victoria & Albert Museum’s special exhibition at the biennale, A World of Fragile Parts, their resulting speculative designs offer a platform for thinking critically and creatively about contemporary themes related to cultural heritage by offering creative propositions for how historical objects, places and everyday social practices can be experienced in the post-digital era.This short paper will focus its discussion to considerations associated with establishing a situated learning experience, inspirations driving the immersive research studio, the “culturescraping” design brief and the design concepts that were generated through this programme.