Fusing Conflicts Within Digital Heritage Through the Ambivalence of Gaming

Digital Heritage is amphibian by spanning between unrealreal (digital) and real-real (actual) environments. Or its amphiboly derives from a fact that relies not on contrasting realities but a hub from which an oscillation occurs between the real and the actual. Inferring to Baudrillard’s criticism of contemporary art, this paper presents these disparities and ambivalent conditions found in digital heritage by examining a full-dome media-art application called Look-Up. Touching upon the authenticity issue in cultural heritage, a design research project, Augmenting Kashgar, is then introduced on the basis of the claim that a design manner can fuse conflicts within Digital Heritage. Developed within the special context of Kashgar, China’s westernmost city, the methodology of the project that follows a Research through Design (RtD) approach is provided. Making use of the architectural features of Kashgar, designing a digital game as a counter-strategy to existing cultural heritage programmes is discussed with references to Baudrillard’s perspective on video games and gamers.