ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at how memorial museums have communicated historical events like the Holocaust in Europe or Apartheid in South Africa. This chapter introduces the term ‘activist spatial experiences’ to describe more ephemeral, temporary memory-spaces created through virtual reality and artistic environments. With a focus on communicating Palestinian narratives of the conflict, and spatial experiences of Occupation, a prototype entitled “re:Visit Palestine” was designed using the low-cost immersive and interactive Unity game engine. The prototype consisted of an interactive virtual environment and video projections to communicate complex political narratives for audiences by simulating the spaces and places of Occupied Palestine. Here, the author argues that virtual memory environments are similarly effective to traditional memorial architectures in supporting both didactic and emotional learning and can be applied to other contested or complex political narratives, allowing for more nuanced meaning and means of representation.
