Event 3: National Museum of China

I went to Beijing to visit the National Museum of China, one of the largest museums in the country. As the museum has as many as 1,050,000 permanent collections, I was interested to figure out how these invaluable collections are being preserved. Furthermore, I also heard that National Museum of China had a reputation of ‘interactive museum’. From how people described the museum I thought there must be some connections to modern technology, but how? I brought this question to the museum as well.

In week 4 I did some research on biotechnology, and found out that scientists are using bio-nanotechnology to preserve art works. Thus, I went to ask people in the museum about whether such technology is being applied in the museum. They told me that such a technology is still being worked on, but biotech knowledge is essential for preservation of ancient drawings, sculptures and other antiques. Scientists and archaeologists in the museum have figured out the perfect temperature and humidity for keeping the collections. Objects made of different materials were applied different kinds of chemicals to lower the possibility of natural erosion. In such case, science is actually helping art. Without application of scientific theories, many objects shown in the museum may not even be able to last for long time. The fact that such preservation technology is being applied instead of being just ideal made me excited.

The interaction of the museum with visitors also impressed me. The museum itself guides us around. For example, behind the ‘rabbit head’ and the ‘horse head’ from Yuanmingyuan, there is a screen telling the story of Yuanmingyuan, once the prettiest garden in China. Animation and three-dimensional technology are used to explain origins of culture. In National Museum of China, technology makes art more straight forward. Even for people who cannot read, they get to learn something about art when they are attracted by this high-tech fantasy.

Today, everything is moving toward technology. Visiting the National Museum of China made me realize that one of the major functions of technology in the field of art is to promote it. Internet makes most forms of art available to net users; new technologies provides creative platforms for art and last but not the least, technology makes certain forms of art more appealing to people who are not very familiar with art theories.

Reference:

National Museum of China, wikepedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Museum_of_China
National Museum of China, http://en.chnmuseum.cn/(S(azejfy55ofe13hei0zpbzr2d))/default.aspx