Virtual objects: the endof the real?

Abstract

The central article of faith in museum life is the belief in the primacy of original objects. Traditional museums are part of an object centred culture. Physical artefacts, their acquisition, meanings, and care, dominate the psyche of the museum profession. Original artefacts are sanctified and prized above object surrogates – replicas, graphic depictions, holograms – for reasons that are not always easy to articulate. Yet there is a new genre of object in the museological landscape – the virtual object. By this I mean an electronic representation of a thing whether real or imagined. The creation and manipulation of computer based virtual objects is compellingly attractive to museum directors, exhibition designers, and educationalists. Virtual objects prompt a reexamination of the status and role of the original artefact, and agitate our assumptions about the status of the original. This article explores some of the respects in which the virtual object may be seen to challenge the primacy of the original in museum culture.