Objects, memory, and power: the transformation of intimacy in virtual heritage spaces

Virtual museums often prioritise access and digitisation over emotional engagement, frequently overlooking the nuanced, affective connections that physical heritage spaces can evoke. This has been influenced by culture and digital platform power, in addition to the cognitive bias of this moment. This article addresses that gap by introducing the concept of digital intimacy, defined as the emotional resonance that emerges when digital environments are designed to preserve personal memory, attachment, and embodied subjectivity. Through a hybrid methodology combining autoethnography, critical inquiry, and digital spatial analysis, the study explores how virtual representations of domestic objects and spaces can replicate, translate, or disrupt intimate experience. Drawing on comparative data from a personal domestic environment and The Glasgow Tenement House Museum, the research examines how physical and virtual museum spaces can be combined to create affective meaning. It argues that digital intimacy is not merely a technical effect but a curatorial and ethical imperative—central to rethinking how memory, care, and lived experience are communicated in virtual heritage spaces.