Teaching Memory: Digital Interpretation at the Shrine of Remembrance, Melbourne

Abstract

With the inclusion of the digital in the suite of on-site interpretation experiences now available at many war memorials, long-standing tensions between education, commemoration and tourism are amplified. At the same time, new regimes of bodily experience shaped by the interaction of architectural and digital technologies, evolving expectations of behaviour and engagement, and challenges to curatorial voices have come to the fore. This paper examines these issues at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne by exploring the interaction between various “technologies of remembrance”: the active participation of the material world in eliciting remembrance. We argue that these technologies, aiming to “teach memory,” are an attempt to position the visitor as a “witness”: an active participant in the ongoing work of memory, and possibly create spaces for critique.