Embodiment, Affect, and Heritage Architecture

Abstract

This chapter centers on an exhibition at the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art, entitled Living Apart: Geography of Segregation in the 21st Century, that was the result of five years of mixed-methods research in Hampton Roads, Virginia. Specifically, in this chapter, we aim to demonstrate how we used the museum exhibition to challenge a public audience to see (a) how socio-spatial structures perpetuate racial inequality and constrain individual agency; (b) how we—as individuals—are implicated in this story; and (c) how both individual and collective action is necessary to construct a more racially and environmentally just future. The central question that we grapple with in this chapter is how we can design a multisensory museum exhibition to translate research on urban inequality into an exhibition that denaturalizes the production of urban racial inequality and inspires visitors to work toward building a more racially, environmentally, and socially just future.