Abstract

Storytelling is a method of expressing ideas and enhancing dialogue among stakeholders by using narratives to elicit emotions, memories, participation and action. The connection between design and storytelling is based on the ability of narratives to transcend the discipline’s functional, solution-oriented dimension and generate knowledge that activates new meanings in the ongoing interaction between representation and interpretation. However, in addressing the topic of human–space relationships as a narrative process, another question emerges: What is the connection between architecture and storytelling? Given that people use narratives to shape and share their personal experiences, a narrative-based approach to the physical, digital, virtual and hybrid experience of spaces may help construct knowledge environments that enhance interactions. This contribution reflects how architecture can support storytelling, while narrative can considerably benefit architectural understanding and perception of space. In doing so, the essay will present and discuss some narrative-based experiences.

“A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away . . .” is not only the famous opening sequence of the epic space opera Star Wars¹ but is also close to the classic “Once upon a time” of many narratives. A short incipit but one that makes people dream and predisposes them to stop and listen to a good story. This is not a secret formula that tends towards persuasion; it is simply based on the fact that stories, whatever is their form, are the conventional way in which human beings process information.² Patrick Reinsborough and Doyle Canning stated: “Whether you call them stories, cosmologies, myths, meta-narratives, the status quo, or some other word, it is clear that powerful stories can shape and inform how we see the world.”³

According to this and other reflections promoted by scholars and practitioners, storytelling has emerged as a strategic asset not just for disciplines but also in real life, leading to the emergence of what Walter Fisher called the narrative paradigm: it refers to the idea of the human being as homo narrans who communicates through stories and perceives social interaction through a narrative logic.⁴ In light of such premises, it is possible to state that storytelling is a method of expressing ideas and enhancing stakeholder dialogue by using narratives to elicit emotions, memories, participation and action.

The link between design and storytelling resides in the potential of narratives to develop information that generate new meanings in the continuing interaction between representation and interpretation, which goes beyond the discipline’s functional, solution-oriented component. However, in addressing the topic of human–space relationships as a narrative process, another question emerges: What is the connection between architecture and storytelling? As people use narratives to shape and share their personal experiences,⁵ a narrative-based approach to the physical, digital, virtual and hybrid experience of spaces may contribute to the construction of knowledge environments that enhance interactions.

Nevertheless, before moving forward, another question emerges: What is narrative? It can be described as the representation of events. It requires two main elements: the narrator, the person who tells the story, and the narratee, the one who is being told the story. Moreover, the principal theories that formally approach narrative (such as Russian formalism, American structuralism and French structuralism) agree that narrative comprises fabula and sjužet. While the former refers to the chronological sequence of events, the latter pertains to the order in which the events are told to the narratees.

Thus, proceeding with an analysis of narrative from the standpoint of its ontological aspects, it is possible to notice a significant focus on time whereas the concept of space is an often-overlooked aspect. This was at least until 2016 and the publication of the book Narrating Space/Spatializing Narrative: Where Narrative Theory and Geography Meet,⁶ which contains interesting reflections on the relationship between narrative – historically defined as a temporal art – and space. The exploration of the relationship between narrative and space is led by the identification of four typologies of textual space by Marie-Laure Ryan, Kenneth Foote, and Maoz Azaryahu,⁷ questioning the ways in which narrative and space can collide:⁸ the spatial form of the text, the space materially occupied by the text, the spatial context of the text and the mimetic space or space of the storyworld. While the first two spaces are strictly connected to the textual narrative, the last two are the most interesting ones for reflecting on the relationship between narrative and space and understanding how narrative can enhance the human spatial experience and vice versa. However, all four spaces will be briefly introduced while being analysed for completeness.

The first typology of the textual space – the spatial form of the text – refers to the internal organisation of narrative text elements. That is, all those contents in which the spatial distribution of the text affects semantic aspects. An example Marie-Laure Ryan cites is Apollinaire’s Calligrams but, generally, all visual poetry. Another example is the book S. by J.J. Abrams and Doug Dorst.⁹ The book is a literature experiment of story within a story in which the mysterious V. M. Straka writes the novel The Ship of Theseus. The unusual format of a book borrowed from the Laguna Verde High School library becomes the pretext to tell the story of two protagonists who converse with each other by leaving notes in the book’s margins. This is a literary product that becomes an interactive artefact, transcending the two dimensions typical of the book. These dimensions represent the second typology of textual space – the space materially occupied by the text – that refers precisely to the physical medium used by the narrative.

The third typology of the textual space – the spatial context of the text – refers to the material support of the text. It is here that the environment and architectural landscapes come into play. Indeed, they can provide a spatial context in which the narrative experiences take place, offering elements for hooking story events to enhance audience engagement and immersion. This typology includes location-based and site-specific narratives that use space as a medium, which can be traced to three main clusters. The first, so-called spatial annotation, refers to all those projects that drive people to explore the city in search of stories and experiences. One example of how this storytelling-related model can be used for empowering cityscapes and public space is the Museum of Augmented Urban Art (MAUA). The MAUA is an open-air museum off the beaten path of the city centre that allows audiences to discover street artworks, with the help of augmented reality, in Milan, Turin, Palermo and Waterford (the first international stage of the project took place in Ireland with the collaboration of the street art festival Waterford Walls). MAUA is an example of a widespread and participatory museum model involving different stakeholders, such as neighbourhood residents, students, street artists and digital creatives, in the different cities where it has been implemented. In Milan, it was developed through the Bando Periferie promoted by Milan Municipality, consisting of about 50 street artworks with animations accessible through augmented reality. These works were selected according to a diffuse curating process in which neighbourhood residents evaluated the meaning of the works connected to the context. The animations were then created by 50 young animation designers during an augmented reality workshop.

The second cluster is location-based games, where the real world becomes the playground. A successful example in recent years is Pokémon Go (2016), an augmented-reality mobile game, free-to-play, developed as part of the Pokémon franchise. The players are asked to develop their own avatars and start collecting a Pokémon whenever the player encounters one of them moving for real within real-world surroundings.

Projects and research show that location-based games can be an area of interest for urban environments and museums. The combined use of storytelling and location-based services can engage people in augmented and engaging experiences, blurring the boundary between reality and fiction¹⁰ and exploring the relationship between narrative, the environment and interactions. An example is the location-based augmented-reality game Unlocking Porto,¹¹ set in Porto and composed of educational and playful experiences that engage the audience to learn about the history of Porto wine and explore touristic locations. An example in which a location-based game is used to empower the relation between cultural heritage and users is Gossip at Palace, a location-based mobile game that allows teenagers to discover the 18th-century history of Palazzo Madama — Museo Civico d’Arte Antica in Turin, Italy.¹² It is also interesting to cite an educational experience conducted at the School of Design (Politecnico di Milano), in which BSc Design students were involved in the design of location-based mobile games for the Bagatti Valsecchi House Museum. The results showed 13 working prototypes, four of which were selected and played during a public event held at the house museum.¹³

The last category is the mobile narrative experience, which differs from the previous two because the focus is on the narrative, understood as an actual narrative arc, and not on the experience and game mechanics.

Bio

Mariana Ciancia, PhD, is a researcher at the Department of Design (Politecnico di Milano) and deputy director of the Master in Brand Communication (POLI.design). Her research and teaching activity, both national and international, focuses on Communication Design, particularly on design processes, tools, and production of narrative artefacts (digital and physical) in a media ecosystem characterised by digital transformation. Mariana’s national and international publications include books, book chapters, journal articles, conference proceedings on transmedia phenomena, communication strategies, interactive narratives, and audio-visual artefacts.