Museums: Be a "big school" and tell "good stories"

 【Ask about the livelihood of the people】

 On the first day of the new year, the National Museum was crowded with people.

Enjoying cultural relics exhibits with family members and spending the New Year in the museum has become a "New Year's custom" in the family of Li Danyang, a post-90s Beijing girl.

"The whole family is a fan of cultural and blogging. During the Spring Festival, I watched more than a dozen exhibitions in one go and gained a lot," she said.

 Statistics show that by the end of 2020, the number of registered museums nationwide had reached 5,788, achieving the goal of having one museum per 250,000 people on average.

However, uneven levels of development remain a prominent problem.

"Internet celebrity" museums are hard to get a ticket, but some niche museums are scarce.

 A museum is a "big school".

How should museums revitalize their "family assets" and give back to the audience with more exciting exhibitions?

How to "break the circle" with strength and tell Chinese stories in a more creative form?

The delegates have many suggestions and opinions on this.

1. Curate, make a fuss about heart and emotion

  The soul of a museum is its collection.

Representative Wei Xuefeng, chief expert of the Sichuan Museum, pointed out that the current problem of "a thousand exhibitions" reflects the dilemma of insufficient renewal of cultural relics collections.

"The problem of the loss of cultural relics in museums needs to be solved urgently." Representative Wei Xuefeng explained that since the "separation" of many museums and archaeological institutes in the 1980s, the collections of some museums have not been updated for nearly 40 years.

He suggested that the national cultural relics authority should solve this problem systematically, break through the blocking points in the allocation and transfer of cultural relics, and promote the timely update of the collections of museums in various places.

  Collection is only the first step. How to present the collection to the audience more accurately and brilliantly also tests the vision and ability of museum workers.

This point, member Lv Chenglong, director of the Palace Museum's Artifact Department, has a deep understanding: "The curation should be based on research, especially the identification and dating of cultural relics. If the research is not in-depth, it may mislead the audience." He introduced that the Palace Museum in 2021 The ceramic hall of the museum has reopened. It is a good attempt to introduce the knowledge of porcelain appreciation through QR codes, micro-videos, and exhibition boards, and to excavate and display the stories behind the cultural relics.

  To plan an exhibition that the audience likes to see, it is necessary to "make a fuss" with heart and emotion.

The sculpture "Lei Feng" by Wu Weishan, member of the Standing Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and director of the National Art Museum of China, was selected into the Chinese textbook "Uncle Lei Feng, where are you".

On March 5th of this year, the Lei Feng Memorial Day, the National Art Museum of China held a poetry reading activity of the same name, and printed the sculpture image on a card and distributed it to the audience.

"We have created the 'Beautiful Times and Beautiful Moments' column, using more than 130,000 collections to tell Chinese stories in conjunction with the festivals, the Beijing Winter Olympics and other important time points. Practice has proved that the reputation of communication is very high." Commissioner Wu Weishan introduced .

2. "Cloud Exhibition", let more people enjoy the beauty of art

  In recent years, "cloud exhibition", "cloud check-in" and "cloud experience" have developed vigorously, satisfying the needs of audiences to visit the exhibition without leaving home, and making good exhibitions "never end".

  The "Cloud Exhibition" that impressed Guo Yuanyuan, deputy dean of the School of Culture and Communication of Capital University of Economics and Business, was the exhibition of Dong Qichang's calligraphy and painting art curated by the Shanghai Museum.

"In addition to displaying calligraphy and painting works, the 'Cloud Exhibition' also uses animation, tree map and other technologies to show Dong Qichang's life trajectory and 'friend circle'. Wearing VR glasses, you can also get into his "Eight Sceneries of Autumn Xing" to play. It contrasts with the offline exhibition.”

  It used to receive 30,000 visitors a day at peak times, but now the epidemic prevention and control is normalized, and the daily number of visitors to the National Art Museum of China is limited to less than 1,800 people. How to let more people enjoy the beauty of art?

"'Going to the cloud' is the general trend." Committee member Wu Weishan said, "We have put many exhibitions and special exhibitions from 2004 to today on the website, which not only extends the vitality of art works, but also allows beauty to subtly integrate into our cultural self-confidence. Gene."

  "Using digital technology to display cultural heritage makes a museum without walls possible." "Cloud exhibition" is not simply the same as digitalization.

Representative Wei Xuefeng pointed out, "At present, the presentation methods of most 'cloud exhibitions' are relatively simple, and the content mining is not deep enough. In the future, with the further improvement of network information technology, the audience's demand for visual and aesthetic experience will also increase. It's a very important topic for museums in general."

3. Cultural and creative, we must focus on innovation, deep digging, and strong guidance

  Nowadays, cultural and blog programs such as "The Forbidden City" are popular, national-style makeup and clothing are popular, and archaeological blind boxes are sold out... Guochao fashion, cultural and creative IP, and cross-border cooperation have made the cultural and blog circle new. meteorological.

  As the "top stream" of cultural and blog IP, the Palace Museum Cultural and Creative Industry has attracted wide attention.

"In the process of product research and development, we must carry forward the excellent traditional culture, and we must not turn the dross into cultural and creative products." Member Lv Chenglong introduced that the Palace Museum specially set up a cultural and creative review team, invited professionals to participate, and held regular meetings to review various cultural and creative products. , Strictly check.

  Under the development environment of the cultural and creative industry where "whoever obtains IP wins the world", there are also problems such as homogenization and low-level imitation of cultural and creative products.

  "In the research and development of cultural and creative industries, we must focus on innovation, in-depth exploration and strong guidance, and create characteristic products that can not only inherit historical culture, spread cultural values, but also meet contemporary aesthetic needs." Member Guo Yuanyuan said that if the museum wants to develop the cultural and creative industry, it must Do this "homework" solidly.

  At the same time, many museums across the country are not very active in cultural and creative aspects.

"The reason is that most of the museums belong to the national public welfare institutions, and the funds are basically only enough to maintain normal operation, and there are very few funds that can be used for cultural and creative research and development." Representative Wei Xuefeng suggested, "I look forward to the state's introduction to encourage cultural and creative development. We can try to return the income from cross-border and cultural creation to the museum, so as to 'support culture with culture' and "supplement with culture"."

 (Reporter Zhang Yun and Jia Yueyang)