VR exhibition by NPM, HTC wins honorable mention at US cultural awards

2019/04/10

A virtual reality exhibition co-organized by Taipei City-based National Palace Museum and Taiwan-headquartered tech firm HTC Corp. picked up an honorable mention at the 2019 GLAMi Awards in the U.S.
 
 The prizes, staged as part of the Museums and the Web conference April 2-6 in Boston, recognize innovative projects in the cultural heritage sector. Curated by NPM with technology support from HTC, the show “A Journey inside Paintings and Calligraphy—VR Art Exhibition” was honored in the Exhibition Media or Experience: Immersive Category.
 
 Running Oct. 15 to Dec. 15 last year, the NPM event comprised five depictions of celebrated artworks in the museum’s collection. Three of them were based on the renowned painting “Up the River During Qingming” from the Qing dynasty (1644-1911), and invited visitors to play interactive games based on the vibrant city scenes illustrated in the 11.5-meter scroll.
 
 Another of the VR offerings featured animated and modern dances interpretations of the calligraphy work “Autobiography” by Tang dynasty (618-907) artist Huaisu. It also gave viewers the opportunity to pick up a virtual brush and practice the art form.
 
 The fifth immersive exhibit placed museumgoers amid the vibrant fall scenery depicted in “Autumn Colors on the Qiao and Hua Mountains” by Yuan dynasty (1271-1368) painter Zhao Mengfu.
 
 According to NPM, the institution is committed to using cutting-edge technologies and creative exhibition ideas to help deepen public understanding of its antiquities and provide a welcoming and engaging experience for visitors.
 
 The annual GLAMi Awards, known as the Best of the Web awards between 1997 and 2016, honor the most innovative cultural projects at museums, galleries, libraries and archive institutions around the world. A total of 55 facilities participated in this year’s competition.
 
 NPM, established in 1965, is the world’s largest treasure house of Chinese imperial art, boasting nearly 700,000 antiquities covering 7,000 years from the prehistoric Neolithic period to the end of the Qing dynasty. In 2015, it opened a second branch in southern Taiwan’s Chiayi County to showcase artifacts from diverse Asian civilizations.

Source: Taiwan Today (https://taiwantoday.tw/index.php)