Digital Exhibition at Hunan Museum to Promote China's Traditional Culture

Photo: Xu Liuliu/Global Times

The Da He Bronze Ding (food vessel) with Human-mask Design and the Boar-shaped Bronze Zun (wine vessel) from the Shang dynasty (c.1600BC-1046BC), the printed and painted floss silk padded gauze robe, a T-shaped painting on silk from Xin Zhui's tomb and a plain unlined gauze gown from the Han Dynasty (206BC-AD220). These five national treasures collected by the Hunan Museum in Changsha, Central China's Hunan Province, are being interpreted through modern new expressions at the museum's new exhibition Wandering: Digital Art in Historical Spacetime.

Inspired by these five national treasures, six groups of digital artists let their imaginations run free as they used digital art to carry out dialogues across time and space, and pay tribute to China's excellent traditional culture. Nine artists chose to have a dialogue with works of ancient Chinese art history, using digital art to present the rebirth of classic civilization, while 12 artists sought to integrate time, space, culture, and media from the vast reaches of foreign art history, as well as produce positive responses toward AI.

The mixed exhibition combines traditional cultural relics, digital art, and installation art together. "It marks our first attempt to have a dialogue between ancient and modern times and explore ways to promote China's fine traditional arts through innovative means," said Duan Xiaoming, president of the Hunan Museum and also one of the exhibition's curators, in an interview with the Global Times.

The exhibition seeks to explore how fine traditional Chinese culture, carried by ancient cultural relics, can better connect with contemporary society and people. After over a year of planning and preparation, artists from China and overseas present a rich and inclusive exhibition "that audiences of different ages and from multicultural backgrounds can find fun and obtain a pleasant cultural experience," Duan noted.