Tele-memoriali : fra immersione ed emersione

This contribution examines the implications of Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR), with a particular focus on how these technologies reshape our experience of space, perception, and memory. VR immerses users in alternative environments, effectively disconnecting them from their physical surroundings, while AR enhances the real world by overlaying it with digital elements. The two technologies are framed as conceptual opposites: VR offers a deeply immersive, often solipsistic experience, while AR is described as “emersive,” integrating digital entities into the physical environment. The chapter further explores how these technologies contribute to the creation of tele-memorials — digital monuments that engage with both space and time, offering innovative ways to experience memory and history. These approaches are applied in both institutional and grassroots projects, exemplified by virtual reconstructions of historical sites and memorials using VR and AR. Through these examples, the duality of immersion and emersion is analyzed, revealing the transformative potential of these technologies in redefining our relationship with memory, history, and the spaces we inhabit.