2 | Monday, March 29, 2021 HONG KONG EDITION | CHINA DAILY PAGE TWO
From page 1 Institutions This work includes online collec tions, 360degree virtual tours, online publications and digital exhi around the bitions, according to the report. Many museums have seen a sub stantial rise in the number of visi world urged tors to their websites during lockdowns. to follow For example, the Louvre Muse um in Paris saw visits to its web site rise tenfold in the first few China’s lead days of the lockdown in France. Visitor numbers were later report By CHEN YINGQUN ed to have reached a level three times higher than average, the At 6 am on Sept 10 last year, report said. before the sun had fully risen, the However, the digital divide is now Palace Museum in Beijing began more apparent than ever, as only 5 an eighthour live broadcast on percent of museums in Africa and Sina Weibo. Small Island Developing States are Viewers watched dawn break able to provide online content, over the institution’s iconic according to the report. Museums: Displays buildings as it celebrated the 600th anniversary of its com Forced to close pletion. Also known as the For Sharon Ament, director of the bidden City, it was China’s Museum of London, said that in imperial palace from 1420 to March last year the institution was target online visitors 1911. forced to close with almost no More than 10 experts in differ notice. Along with museums world ent fields took part in the broad wide it immediately lost income cast, leading the audience in a generated from hiring out the ven virtual appreciation of the muse ue, corporate hospitality, retail out um’s valuable cultural relics. lets, ticket sales, and restaurant and Over 2 million people watched cafe takings. the transmission on social media “This was unprecedented and platforms. never featured on our annual risk Last year, as the pandemic register,” Ament said, adding that in forced museums to close, the 12 months from March last year livestreaming broadcasts the museum was only open for just emerged to dominate the digital over 13 weeks. scene in China. When it was allowed to open, Huang Jiaying, 25, a post the institution experienced low graduate student in Beijing, visitor numbers, averaging only 20 said she has watched live percent of the previous year’s per streaming tours of various formance. institutions, including the Ament said about 50 percent of its National Museum of China. visitors came from overseas, but this “Some museums have sophis flow dried up immediately. ticated online exhibitions and “Our selfgenerated income they use advanced technologies streams, which form an important to give visitors an immersive source of funding for the museum, experience and to interact with producing £3.5 million ($4.2 mil others, but a number of institu lion) each year, were badly affected,” tions are simply displaying pic she added. tures,” Huang said. As the museum was unable to A report by Jing Culture and provide its usual services to visitors, Commerce in New York said cul it turned to displays aimed at online tural institutions worldwide audiences. Clockwise from top left: An aerial view of the Louvre Abu Dhabi in the capital of the United Arab Emirates; the Museum of London; an art should follow China’s example of It created a new digital strategy, ist’s impression of people lining up to attend an evening activity at the new Museum of London venue in Smithfield. PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY finding creative ways to reach Project Doors Stay Open, which audiences on digital platforms brought the museum and its activi during the pandemic. At the very ties to life online, repackaged con fic to properly maintain social dis “Compared with offline muse least, they should be uploading tent, and created and pooled ideas. tancing,” he said. ums, virtual institutions are not past and ongoing exhibitions A particular highlight was the The museum also used digital limited by space, can be more with supporting text and audio Great Fire of London livestreaming technology to continue providing expressive by using technologies, resources, it said. series for schoolchildren studying entertainment and education to and have a stronger interaction with They should also consider from home, which attracted more local and global visitors of all ages. users,” she said. innovative ways to reach audien than 55,000 views in the launch “Looking back to the beginning “Moreover, virtual museums can ces on the social media platforms month. Broadcasters using this con of the pandemic, there was less experiment with innovation to offer they use, the report said. tent netted 500,000 views and urgency to digitize our offerings, more flexible, interesting and enter Chinese efforts on platforms 23,189 interactions, Ament said. but when COVID19 hit, we real taining forms of education for their such as WeChat and Sina Weibo “This was one of our most suc ized we needed to be quick and audiences.” should prompt similar initiatives cessful times last year and was an agile in adapting to the situation,” Han added that while the pan on Facebook, Instagram and important way for the museum to Rabate said. demic will not totally change peo Twitter. As virtual reality and maintain its engagement with Within weeks of the pandemic ple’s habit of visiting museums, it augmented reality technologies schoolchildren and families in par emerging, the museum launched 22 may bring a certain degree of evolve, launching virtual exhibi ticular,” she added. virtual programs that attracted change. tions will become the norm for In the leadup to Christmas, the more than 2.2 million online users “In the postpandemic era, the cultural institutions. Investing museum focused on supporting in the past year alone. The programs positioning of offline and virtual time and resources in this emerg its online shop and generating included WE ARE NOT ALONE by museums will be different. Both ing trend will create a solid blue donations, prompting a rise of Soundwalk Collective, a futuristic online and offline models have their print to work from in coming nearly 102 percent in visits to the audiovisual experience allowing advantages and disadvantages, and years, the report added. shop compared with October, and visitors to appreciate the museum’s they will certainly coexist, with a Richard Whiddington, senior a 271 percent rise in online reve architecture online. relatively clear division of functions staff writer at Jing Culture and nue, Ament said. However, Rabate said nothing and features.” Commerce, said Chinese muse “Now, more than ever, museums can compare with visiting the muse While some people will find that ums and cultural institutions play a crucial role in society as um inperson. virtual tours provide novel experi began using a range of innova spaces that are responsive to the In addition to being able to safely ences and convenience, others tive digital strategies at the start world around them,” she said, welcome back visitors in Abu Dhabi, may prefer visiting museums of last year. adding that a new Museum for the museum has new attractions inperson to view their collections, Many of them were well London at West Smithfield will such as Yoga Under the Dome, kay she said. placed to do so, given the long deliver significant economic and aking tours to view the institution standing use of digital resources social benefits, contributing to the from the water, and a finedining Underlying aims to engage audiences, he said. city’s postpandemic recovery. experience at Le Fouquet’s, the Paris Richard Whiddington, senior Such efforts include virtual Ament said that the latest govern restaurant. staff writer at Jing Culture and exhibitions, partnering with ment guidelines indicate that the Rabate said he is optimistic about Commerce in New York, which leading technology and enter museum can reopen in midMay. the future, especially as the availa specializes in cultural strategies, tainment companies in holding “There are many challenges that bility of COVID19 vaccines means technologies and solutions, said online events, hosting lie ahead, but with the vaccination that many visitors may be able to the pandemic has not changed the livestreaming tours, and creating program continuing at an impress come to Abu Dhabi soon. underlying aims of museums to cultural products for post’80s ive rate, we’re hoping to welcome “The longterm prospect for serve, connect and educate audi and ’90s audiences, with product visitors from the UK and around the museums will certainly be a hybrid ences, and to protect their collec sales made through ecommerce world once again,” she said. model of inperson and digital initi tions for future generations. platforms. Manuel Rabate, director of Lou atives,” he said. “For many museums, however, “In Europe and the United vre Abu Dhabi in the United Arab “While I believe in the importance the way in which they accomplish States, the museum sector still Emirates, said that in March last of looking at physical objects and art their missions is changing. Digi faces a long road to recovery — year the pandemic forced the muse works, virtual programming remains tal is pivotal to these efforts,” he if recovery is even the right um to close for 100 days, which was crucial, and to date, it has allowed us said. word, given that cultural and “not an easy decision and a time of to reach a larger and more geographi Whiddington added that adopt economic events of the past 12 real sadness”. cally diverse audience.” ing digital strategies is in no way months are fundamentally “Along with our colleagues across Engagement with and comments “incongruous with curating offline reshaping how people think of the globe, the pandemic has meant a on virtual initiatives have been exhibitions” and the key will be find museums, with institutions in drop in visitor numbers,” he said. “exceptional”, he said, adding that ing a balance and integrating offline turn reassessing their own “An average of 70 percent of our visi the museum opened its first inter and online experiences. relationships to audiences,” tors were tourists preCOVID19, national exhibition, Abstraction Ke, the internet company work Whiddington said. and 30 percent were from the local and Calligraphy — Towards a Uni er in Shenzhen, said that although The museum that “recovers” community. Now, these proportions versal Language on Feb 17. The dis she enjoys the convenience and may be quite different from have been reversed.” play is scheduled to run until June interaction of visiting museums the one that was shuttered at Rabate said that when prepara 12. A virtual experience for this exhi online, she is looking forward to the start of last year. The “sea tions were being made to reopen bition will also be launched in com experiencing them inperson of discussion” into which Louvre Abu Dhabi, “an incredible ing weeks, he said. again when the institutions and museums jumped, or were amount of support” was received international borders reopen. pushed into, on issues such as from museums in China, which Inevitable trend “Museums are the soul of a city. inclusivity, diversity, accessi were “ahead of the COVID19 curve” Han Bing, chief researcher of cul Traveling to a city and experiencing bility and digitization were and able to offer advice on strategy. ture and entertainment for global its cultural atmosphere can provide welcome and long overdue, “In the galleries, we used model consultancy Roland Berger, said visitors with a richer sensory experi but it is tangible changes that ing to predict and adjust capacity, going digital is an inevitable trend ence,” she said. matter, and the extent of identify potential bottlenecks, and for museums, and the pandemic has Top and above: Louvre Abu Dhabi reopens to the public in implementation has still to be ensure we were able to regulate traf accelerated this. summer last year. PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY Yang Ran contributed to this story. seen, he added.