Re-imagining the Islandmagee Witches: reflections on interactive digital curatorial methods

In 2023, Ulster University and Carrickfergus Museum collaborated to engage audiences with the Islandmagee Witch Trial, the last such trial to be held in Ireland. Re-imagining the Islandmagee Witches was an interactive exhibition which ran from 9 September to 16 November 2023 and featured interpretive panels, display of a diverse material culture collection, an art installation, and animations. It was accompanied by a graphic novel and video game — all designed to bring a historical narrative of the trial to life. At the heart of the exhibition was the virtual reality (hereafter VR) experience, Demonised: Bewitched and Possessed, co-created with Immersonal, a Belfast-based digital developer.
This paper engages the creative practice experiment that informed the interpretative approach to and project management of Demonised. It uses the project as a case study to suggest that VR provides transformational potential for curatorial methods; and as a critical reference point for understanding the complex processes of conception, ideation, production, development, and deployment of immersive technology solutions in the cultural sector.