From Silent Objects To Memory Agents: Cultural Memory In Digitized Colonial-Era Collections

DOI

10.2991/978-2-38476-613-0_12How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Cultural memory; digitization; colonial-era collections; social role; Indonesian heritage

Abstract

Cultural artifacts rarely remain fixed in meaning or function; they are continually reinterpreted as societies change. The Hindu-Buddhist sculptures of Indonesia, produced between the eighth and fifteenth centuries, illustrate this shift. Initially embedded in ritual contexts, they are now reclassified as cultural heritage and employed to articulate identity and historical continuity. The process of digitization adds another layer to this trajectory. It does more than reproduce visual form: it creates conditions in which artifacts become part of cultural memory. The memories that arise from digital mediation are not recoveries of an original past but reconstructions shaped by present-day representational practices and narrative frameworks. When considered in relation to colonial-era collections, digitization alters how museum objects operate. No longer confined to the role of static exhibits, they acquire a more active position as agents in processes of remembrance. Digital representation also opens space for reinterpretation, bringing multiple perspectives into view and enabling communities with different backgrounds to engage with the same heritage. In this way, digitization unsettles singular narratives and encourages more plural understandings of the past. The case of Hindu-Buddhist sculpture demonstrates how digital technologies transform heritage work. Instead of functioning only as preservation, digitization provides a medium through which the cultural significance of artifacts can be renegotiated in the present. It makes memory more dynamic and dialogical, extending the relevance of the past across generations and cultural contexts. This article therefore, treats digitization as a social practice that produces memory as much as it preserves material culture, situating it within the broader debates on heritage, identity, and cultural continuity in the digital age.

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Ashar Murdihastomo
AU  - Atina Winaya
AU  - Harriyadi Harriyadi
AU  - Nova H. Lestriandoko
AU  - Dewangga E. Mahardian
AU  - Luuk Spreeuwers
AU  - Džemila Šero
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/09/04
TI  - From Silent Objects To Memory Agents: Cultural Memory In Digitized Colonial-Era Collections
BT  - Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Linguistics and Cultural Studies (ICLC-6 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 121
EP  - 131
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-613-0_12
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-613-0_12
ID  - Murdihastomo2026
ER  -