Reviving Extinct Heritage through Virtual Contiguity Revivir el patrimonio extinto a partir de la contigüidad de lo virtual

Abstract

This study raises questions about the notion of considering a cultural heritage asset as lost solely due to the disappearance of its material component from the sensible plane. It asserts that, through the preservation of memory fragments (information-engrams), achieving its reintegration into a digital format is possible. Consequently, the potential to immerse and extend into the natural world is contemplated. In this context, the proposal is to maintain the narrative of immovable heritage within the virtual realm as a strategy for preservation, conservation, and research, leveraging contemporary digital technologies. Following this line of thought, the study aims to observe, experiment, and analyze, in line with the Aristotelian approach, the substantial and incidental changes experienced by the essence or form of these BIC_i during the process of transferring this information from one reality to another, without losing its capacity to envelope matter with replacement potential. This capacity is grounded in the continuous existence and location of the asset. In other words, a material asset ceases to be the same when it loses its narrative continuity or becomes detached from the subject or spatial coordinates that once housed it. In summary, the possibility of reviving a vanished BIC_i through the use of memory devices and digital technologies is established. This enables memories to materialize in the real world without losing their identity, achieved through a technique of narrative relay. Thus, a lost BIC_i can be replaced or reconstructed as needed, akin to evoking a memory.