01_Introduction

The Skušek collection in its entirety and original context was not just about the collected objects and art pieces, but also their interpretation, arrangement and exhibition as part of the Skušeks’ everyday life. Living alongside their collection and using the pieces for their intended use, as part of their routines, the Skušeks basically created a lived-in musuem, which they also presented, currated and staged as such to visitors and guests of the family. In this setting, Tsuneko’s role was of special important, as she mostly took a position that was akin to a modern currator, crafting the experience with remarkable attention to detail.

This historic context, however, also provides a unique set of challenges when retracing the collection’s curatorial heritage. Because, while part of the currently ongoing exhibition at the Slovene Ethnographic Museum, which is set to run until the end of August 2025, aims to recreate Tsuneko’s and, by extension, also Ivan Skušek’s museum experience, it is still under both a spacial and a temporal limitation. As the original exhibition site, that is, the Skušeks’ former apartment, is not availaible to be used in its original context anymore, with it currently housing a kindergarden, and the SEM exhibition set to end in 2025, these limitations furthermore pose significant challenges to the continued public exposure and already quite limited accessibility of the collected pieces.

In this regard, the creation of a virtual reality (VR) museum experience potentially offers a unique solution. By retracing the concept of an explorable, lived-in experience, that allows the user to experience the collection’s contents at a very close and personal level, a VR museum is uniquely suited to present the collection’s contents and face these challenges. This is especially true, since it also aligns with the original goal and follows the initial idea of the project, which is documenting and recreating the museum collection digitally, thereby not only making it become more accesible and easily share- and replicable, both via web-based and locally hosted applications, but it will also no longer be limited by real environmental constraints, be they spacial or temporal. These advantages therefore allow the virtual space and the therein planned VR museum to become the perfect stage to house the recreated objects and make them universally accessible.

To further enhance accessibility to the gained research findings, while the creation of a VR museum remains a central goal of the project, this website is also intended to document the ongoing research and development process. It serves as a space to reflect on emerging challenges, shifts in focus, and evolving limitations, while tracing the project’s progress and the decisions that shape its course.