The sensitive perception of cultural heritage’s materiality through digital technologies

Abstract

This article focuses on the impact of digital technologies in the field of cultural heritage conservation and restoration (i.e., Conservation Science). It arises from thesis research I am currently preparing at Paris 8 University, in France. Having observed a renewal of our relationship to cultural heritage through information and communication technologies, I aim to explain how these technologies affect our sensitive perception and consequently our understanding of the materiality of virtually represented objects. In the double context of the museum institution and the conservation-restoration field, whose mission is not simply to transmit objects but also to transmit knowledge about the materiality of these objects, we will try to understand more precisely the effect of these digital technologies on sensory and temporal-spatial perception of objects important to cultural heritage.