From Disconnection to Reconnection: Cross-Cultural Communication In Cultural Heritage Studies Through AI-Based Digital Storytelling
Suwen Wang
Project overview —

This research explores the potential of digital storytelling to bridge emotional and cultural disconnection between cultural heritage artifacts and audiences. By using immersive narratives, interactive media, and poetic storytelling, it reanimates looted relics, displaced sculptures, and forgotten treasures—transforming them from static displays into expressive storytellers. Through their voices, these artifacts recount histories, struggles, and longing for origin, evoking empathy and connection.

A central innovation lies in the creative use of AI. Voice narration, text scripts, and soundscapes—including ambient audio and music—are generated or co-created with AI tools. These technologies give form to imagined inner monologues, creating a poetic, uncanny resonance between the digital and the historical. In this context, AI becomes more than a tool—it mirrors the artifacts themselves: silent, objectified, yet capable of evoking life through expression and voice.

The research highlights the power of storytelling—amplified by AI—to raise awareness about tomb raiding, trafficking, and cultural neglect. By humanizing artifacts and narrating their losses, the work calls for greater urgency in preserving cultural memory. Ultimately, it advocates a shift from disconnection to reconnection, positioning AI-powered storytelling as a catalyst for empathy, justice, and heritage protection.

Biography

Suwen Wang is a London-based artist and researcher specialising in AI-driven digital storytelling and interactive media. He holds an MA in Digital Media Arts and is currently pursuing an MRes in Cross-Cultural Communication Design at the Royal College of Art, UK. His work addresses the emotional and cultural disconnection between audiences and displaced cultural heritage artifacts using AI-generated voice, text, spatial sound, and immersive technologies.

By reimagining artifacts as narrative agents, Suwen challenges traditional museum displays and linear historiography, fostering empathy and cross-cultural dialogue through participatory and multisensory storytelling. He views AI not just as a tool but as a co-creator that amplifies marginalised voices and explores memory, identity, cultural loss, and ethical issues.

As a researcher, Suwen develops design frameworks integrating technology, culture, and ethics to create inclusive and emotionally engaging heritage experiences. Emphasising emotional engagement and ethical design, he aims to help institutions communicate heritage in ways that respect diverse narratives and inspire collective responsibility. His practice encourages public reflection on social and cross-cultural issues, sparks dialogue between artists and audiences, and promotes deeper collective understanding.

Figure of Manasā, South Asia, 12th Century, At The British Museum. Whispers echoes: “What is ‘returning’ when even rivers, change their courses? My last koan is written, in shipping labels and conservation reports”.
Figure of Buddha, China 550-577, At The Victoria and Albert Museum. Whispers echoes: “What is ‘returning’ when even rivers, change their courses? My last koan is written, in shipping labels and conservation reports”.
Wish Fulfilling Cow, South Asia 20th Century, At The Victoria and Albert Museum. Whispers echoes: “I am not artifact, not goddess, just female and breathing. Singing old lullabies, the single teardrop that warps the grain”.
Foreign Envoy From an Imperial Tomb, China 1400-1600, At The Victoria Albert Museum. Whispers echoes: “The potter's thumb pressed life into me he said "for eternity.” But no one told him eternity would smell like museum glue”.
Shakyamuni, China 1740-1786, At The Victoria Albert Museum. Whispers echoes: “They molded my lips to preach without sound, yet no one kneels where my altar was ground”.
Seated Figure of A Bodhisattva, South Asia 9th Century, At The Victoria Albert Museum. Whispers echoes: “They molded my lips to preach without sound, yet no one kneels where my altar was ground”.