The China Art Museum has created Shanghai’s biggest "digital museum". More than 7,000 high-definition scans of artwork have been made available for art fans to access from home. ICS reporter Zhang Jun visits the museum in the former China Pavilion and brings us this report.
This century-old brush painting of magnolias by well-known Chinese artist Wu Changshuo is one of some 5,000 pieces the museum couldn’t put on display due to the limited exhibition space. But now, thanks to high-definition scanning technology, people from all over the world will soon be able to see it on their computer screens. Some visitors to the physical museum say they appreciate the idea of a digital museum.
"I would like to see that there, sounds interesting. I think I’m more like the modern style." Tim Donicie, Dutch Expat said.
"I think the new digital museum will help visitors. I saw many people taking pictures of the exhibits in this museum. Once they get digitalized online, visitors won’t have to do that any more because their purpose is automatically realized. "
One museum official said he and his colleagues spent a year designing the concept, scanning the exhibits and building the entire website. He says the physical museum has attracted more than 6,000 visitors a day on average since opening last October. And the new digital museum will help make it even more popular.
"We hope the new digital museum will make it easier for elderly and disabled visitors to see our exhibits at home. By building up its reputation, we definitely want to increase the overall number of visitors to make the best use of the facility. " Li Sheng, Deputy Director of China Art Museum said.
Li said the new digital museum will officially open on October 1. It is currently up and running on a pilot basis, and managers are asking for suggestions and comment from the public. For the moment, the digital museum will only be in Chinese, but managers are working on a bilingual version.