Augmenting Contexts: Investigating the Dual Recontextualization of Heritage through AR in Liangzhu Museum

<p>This study uses the Liangzhu Museum in Hangzhou as a case study to explore the impact of augmented reality (AR) technology on the process of recontextualizing museum exhibitions, with a particular focus on the dynamic transformation of spatial experience, narrative structure, and narrative authority brought about by AR. By constructing a dual recontextualization model, the study analyzes how exhibits, after transitioning from their original social context into the museum environment, undergo further digital reinterpretation through the intervention of AR technology. </p><p></p><p>After using thematic analysis to analyze interview data, the study found that AR technology not only significantly enhances the appeal and realism of exhibits on a sensory level but also fundamentally reconfigures the logical structure of knowledge expression and the organizational framework of narrative authority within museums. The study further found that AR, through visual narrative, system rhythm control, and the creation of an immersive environment, enables visitors to obtain information while also, to some extent, weakening their focus on the details of artifacts and blurring the boundaries between historical authenticity and technological presentation. Additionally, visitors' trust in the museum institution naturally extends to the content presented through AR, thereby driving the transfer of narrative authority from curators to the technological system.</p><p></p><p>Overall, this study not only complements the applicability of recontextualization theory in the digital exhibition context, but also provides theoretical and practical references for future museum exhibition design and audience research.</p>