Actual material virtual materiality: Multiplicity of locality-based exhibition

Abstract

This study aims to demonstrate actual-virtual multiplication in the context of spatial operations in locality-based architectural exhibitions. Exhibitions are curatorial activities that provoke discourse. Architectural exhibition also means operating actual-virtual objects through relational multiplication. Multiplication is to perceive objects not as singular but as multiple various entities. The multiplication operation in exhibitions must be further explored, especially in exhibitions involving objects with various layer depths. As one of the local materials in Indonesian architectural practice, soil has various profoundness in the locality context. The ‘Tanahku Indonesia’ exhibition is the case study, a national-scale exhibition of local material-based exhibitions. The breakdown of the case study focuses on its actual-virtual elements, operations, and relations. Terms actual in an exhibition can indicate the direct artifact element. In contrast, virtual can suggest artificial, indirect, and multiplicative representation methods. The study offers three concepts. First, actual material can be a portal to virtual materiality. Second, multiplications of objects and materials reveal various spatial operations in an exhibition. Third, the connection between exhibitions is a multistage multiplication process of spatial design. Exhibition spatial construction has various interrelated actual-virtual multiplication operations that become a potential for future design basis.