Sanmen County “Taotou Model” skapar riktmärket för “gemensam rikedom” i etniska byar.More than 3,000 products, planning the International Cultural Relics Poetry Festival, holding the “Jinsha Contemporary Art Season”, pushing Jinsha cultural IP to a new stage of global development. Director Zhu Zhangyi told reporters that they are also exploring new concepts of crowdfunding and crowd-creation, museum-school cooperation and curation, widely absorbing social and school resources to participate, and enhancing the relevance of exhibitions to contemporary life and art.
In the view of Du Jiale, director of Nantong Museum, making cultural relics “alive” is to integrate cultural relics into the lives of the people, return to society, and serve the public, “To this end, we have developed a series of cultural and creative products to allow the public to bring ‘cultural relics’ home, let local audiences find the memories of the old city, let foreign audiences feel the regional customs, and make cultural confidence become knowable and perceptible.”
Stepping out of the premises and “sending exhibitions to your side” is another way to bring cultural relics to life.
In November 2019, the exhibition “Reading the City – Tracing the Historical City of Beijing” hosted by the Capital Museum and Shoukai Group was launched in Huilongguan Shoukai Square. Themed exhibitions, fun activities, interactive games, multimedia displays… The variety of formats makes this huge community of 250,000 permanent residents cheer. “I especially like this ‘Reading City Puzzle Game’!” Many primary school students huddled in front of the unique three-dimensional patchwork teaching aids, trying again and again, and in the process, the main buildings of the old Beijing city wall, city gate and central axis were subtly imprinted in their hearts.
“This is one of the activities of the Capital Museum’s tour into the community. Our ‘Reading City’ series of exhibitions, tailor-made learning and interactive social and educational activities for teenagers, have received a total of 2,121 schools and about 290,000 students in the city, attracting a group of young ‘fans’. Han Zhanming, director of the Capital Museum, told reporters.
Jin Minghua, director of Yanbian Museum, said that they sent exhibitions such as “Border Treasures – Ancient Cultural Relics Fine Photo Exhibition” and “Blood Soul – History of Yanbian People’s Anti-Japanese Struggle” to communities, campuses, military camps, enterprises, villages, etc. in the form of mobile exhibitions, so that residents can better understand the history and development of their hometowns.
In the past three years since its opening, the Westward Migration Museum of Xi’an Jiaotong University has brought exhibitions to Hong Kong, Jiangxi, Fujian and other places through “online + offline” and “on-campus + off-campus”; The construction of the 5G + AR/VR exhibition hall has made the spirit of westward migration spread wider and wider.
Speak up, academic research builds bridges
It is essential to protect the splendid cultural heritage, tell the stories behind the cultural relics, and lay a good foundation for academic research.
In recent years, the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Museum has implemented a series of cultural relics protection and restoration projects, expanded the research field, cultivated professional and technical personnel, and strengthened the innovative application of project results.
Focusing on the material sources and production methods of the artifacts excavated at the Jinsha site, the Chengdu Jinsha Site Museum cooperated with Sichuan University, Hong Kong Chinese University, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences.The relevant research teams of universities and universities have established cooperation, and also cooperated and exchanged with institutions such as the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco and the Kyushu National Museum in Japan.
As a university museum, the Westward Migration Museum of Jiaotong University has its own advantages in academic research. “We are building the first digital platform for westward migration resources, integrating historical archives, audio and video, book and literature databases, and online classrooms, laying the foundation for in-depth research and interpretation of the spirit of westward migration.” Curator Lu Qing said.
On June 10, the Hubei Provincial Archaeological Museum opened. What makes Fang Qin, director of Hubei Provincial Museum, a co-architect, very proud, is that the Hubei Archaeological Museum is the first cross-strait archaeology teaching exchange base in China, and it is also a cultural and doctoral teaching practice base for more than 10 universities such as Peking University and Wuhan University.
Han Zhanming introduced that focusing on the four dimensions of “ancient capital culture, red culture, Beijing taste culture, and innovative culture”, Shoubo has completed 61 projects at all levels, obtained 6 patents, published 45 exhibition catalogs, academic monographs, collection research, yearbooks, Shoubo discussion series, popular science books, etc., and gradually formed the “eight major book series” of Shoubo; At the same time, the research results were transformed into exhibitions in a timely manner, such as the research results of the ancient capital culture into the ancient capital series of exhibitions “Daliao Wujing”, “Dayuan Sandu”, “1420: From Nanjing to Beijing”, etc., and the research results of Beijing flavor culture were transformed into the Beijing New Year Festival series exhibition “Spring Peace under the Sun” and the Spring Festival zodiac culture exhibition.
Go global, learn from each other and create the future together
In recent years, the exchange of cultural relics exhibitions at home and abroad has become more and more close, and domestic museums are actively “going out” while “inviting in”.
In July 2018, in the “Perception of China, Central and North American Countries Sichuan Zhou-Mexico Station” activity, the Chengdu Jinsha Site Museum used pictures, projections, augmented reality, virtual reality and other technical means to allow audiences on the American continent thousands of miles away to be immersed and feasted on their eyes. Some viewers said: “The first time I came into contact with the ancient Shu civilization, I found that it had many similarities with the Mayan civilization, which made me have a strong interest in it”…
“We not only base ourselves on the regional cultural characteristics of the ancient Shu civilization, but also place it in the overall pattern of world civilization, and have successively cooperated with dozens of museums in Italy, Canada, the United States and other countries to successively launch a series of special exhibitions of world civilizations such as ‘Ancient Egypt: The World of Pharaohs and Gods’ and ‘Pompeii: Moments and Eternity’, which promote exchanges with exhibitions and promote the ancient Shu civilization to go out of the house and to the world.” Zhu Zhangyi told reporters.
“Chinese Life in the Late Ming Dynasty”, “Marriage Customs in Old Beijing”, “New Year’s Customs in Old Beijing”… In recent years, a series of exhibitions carefully organized by Shoubo have landed overseas, which has aroused the strong interest of a large number of international friends in the long and splendid Chinese culture; And “Uncharted: Exploring the Origins of Peruvian Andean Civilization”, “Rebirth: Silesia in the Baroque Period”, “Italian Art and Culture in the Renaissance”.The introduction of overseas exhibitions such as “and Life” has also attracted widespread attention from domestic audiences.
“Shoubo has signed cooperation framework agreements with 21 overseas museums and cultural relics institutions, and 22 international friendship museums, completing the strategic layout of international cooperation except South America. In the next step, we are planning a series of civilization dialogue exhibitions with the theme of the four ancient civilizations. We will make every effort to implement the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important instructions, tell China’s story to the people of the world, and help build a community with a shared future for mankind. Han Zhanming said.
(Reporter Zhang Sheng and Li Yun)
(Project team: reporter Li Yun, Zhang Sheng, Zhang Jinghua, Ren Shuang, Li Hui, Wang Shengxi, Wang Simin)