OCAD University Open Research Repository

Revisitation: An Interactive VR Archive of Embodied Family Memory

Cao, Yudi (2026) Revisitation: An Interactive VR Archive of Embodied Family Memory. Masters thesis, OCAD University.

Item Type: Thesis
Creators: Cao, Yudi
Abstract:

Revisitation: An Interactive VR Archive of Embodied Family Memory is an ethnographically grounded research-creation project that investigates how virtual reality (VR) can preserve, reconstruct, and share intergenerational memory through spatial and interactive storytelling. The project takes the form of both a VR experience and a physical exhibition. By reimagining four domestic living rooms spanning from the 1920s to the present day, it explores how digitally constructed environments can evoke emotional connections to family histories and make personal archives accessible beyond the family context. The research responds to a gap in conventional digital archives, where photographs, videos, and objects are often preserved as static records while their material, sensory, and emotional contexts become harder to experience. It asks how a VR-based family archive can support subjective, multi-voiced, and embodied forms of memory, while making personal archives more accessible and open to reinterpretation. Grounded in research-creation, autoethnography, ethnographic research, and embodied narrative inquiry, the project draws on family archives, oral histories, interviews, and field research. Within Revisitation, memory emerges through first-person navigation, bodily movement, sound, and object-based interaction. Selected archival materials become memory triggers that activate intimate moments through proximity, touch, and interaction. Abstraction and non-realistic sensory interaction are used as design strategies, allowing fragmented and emotionally charged memories to surface through experiential engagement. Through the design and development of an interactive VR archive, Revisitation explores the possibility of more accessible, lightweight, and adaptable approaches to VR-based memory preservation, positioning family memory as a process that may be shared, reactivated, and reinterpreted across generations.

Date: 26 March 2026
Uncontrolled Keywords: VR / Media Archive / Family Memory / Intergeneration / Memory VR / Embodied Experience / Autoethnography / Narrative Storytelling
Divisions: Graduate Studies > Digital Futures
Date Deposited: 29 Apr 2026 18:13
Last Modified: 29 Apr 2026 18:13
URI: https://openresearch.ocadu.ca/id/eprint/4993

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