Computational Museology: Exploring Heritage through Immersion

​Reflections on how digital technologies transform cultural memory, what is preserved, what is lost, and how archives endure in an age of constant change.

​Ahead of the opening night of the Terapixel Panorama Exhibition, Swissnex invites you for an exclusive event with Prof. Sarah Kenderdine, a leading researcher in interactive and immersive experiences for galleries, libraries, archives, and museums and winner of the SNSF 2024 Optimus Agora Prize.

​Museums have long preserved human knowledge through stone, paper, and film. Today, computation reshapes how we create, curate, and experience cultural memory. Vast archives are translated into data; immersive environments reconfigure how we see and feel history. Yet alongside these new possibilities come uncertainties: formats change, code decays, and technologies become obsolete.

​Kenderdine’s practice probes these tensions, expanding the museum into a space of immersion, interaction, and scale—while asking what might be lost as fast as it is gained. This gathering brings together artists, scholars, and technologists to reflect on the futures of cultural heritage in the age of computation.

​How can computational methods reimagine the museum? What does it mean to preserve memory when the medium itself is unstable? Join us for an evening of dialogue on immersion, data, and the futures of museology.

​Speakers:

• ​Prof. Sarah Kenderdine, Lead Laboratory for Experimental Museology at EPFL

• ​Sara Velas, Director & Founder, Velaslavasay Panorama

​​​​About Swissnex in San Francisco
Swissnex in San Francisco is an initiative of the Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI). Our vision at Swissnex in San Francisco is to connect tomorrow by empowering the next generation of innovators to collaborate and create futures where the planet and society thrive.

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