When Legacy Meets Technology: Memory Twins for Collecting and Representing Central Java's Performative Heritage

Traditional performances in Central Java have long served as ambassadors of cultural diplomacy and as demonstrations of Indonesian soft power. Hence the term Bhinneka Tunggal Ika (unity in diversity) - the motto for Indonesia. Like the rest of the numerous islands that make up the archipelago, Central Java's batik textiles, gamelan music, traditional dance, and shadow puppetry provide an intertextual and collective memory of a pluralist history. These cultural phenomena are now being digitised: for example, the Kraton palace of Jogja has undertaken to photograph all of its Wayang Kulit shadow puppets and will use digital heritage imaging for its site and multidimensional collections. What are the implications of creating digital versions? Can Bhinneka Tunggal Ika manifest itself within the archipelago’s cultural landscape through hybrid forms of technology and virtual platforms? This paper investigates these questions through in-situ research, academic exchanges, and digital heritage documentation. It focuses on the process of digital heritagisation, the process of attaching meaning to sites, objects, rituals and performances, in the cities of Surakarta(Solo) and Yogyakarta(Jogja) to fulfil multiple missions: conserving artefacts and intangible assets at risk, investigating embodied experiences of Javanese Indonesians with their cultural legacy, and creating space for debate over national history and collective memories. The digitisation of Javanese cultural heritage seeks to weave the memory twin into its existing digital twin framework and further investigates the research capacity of institutions and the local communities.