Taipei City-based National Palace Museum’s digital “Giuseppe Castiglione-Lang Shining New Media Art Exhibition” and iPalace Channel won the Festival of Audiovisual International Multimedia Patrimony’s grand prize Nov. 22 in the Hungarian capital Budapest.
Tao Wen-lung, head of the Taipei Representative Office, Budapest, Hungary, received the Claude-Nicole Hocquard Award on behalf of the museum. The NPM houses more than 650,000 pieces and is widely considered one of the top four facilities of its kind in the world, he said.
The grand prize recognizes innovative audiovisual and multimedia technology productions by museums or heritage and cultural institutions worldwide. It is named in honor of Hocquard, the late founder of festival organizer International Committee for Audiovisual and New Image and Sound Technologies under Paris-based International Council of Museums.
According to the NPM, Giuseppe Castiglione was a Jesuit from Milan who traveled to China to proselytize in the late 17th century. He adopted the local name Lang Shining and spent 51 years in the service of emperors Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong. An avid painter, the missionary left behind a large body of work drawing upon the finest Eastern and Western techniques and traditions.
The exhibition, which brings Castiglione’s creations to life in a way that blends the real and virtual worlds, won the 49th Annual WorldFest-Houston Best of Show-Interactive Grand Remi Award in April and American Alliance of Museum 2016 MUSE Silver Award in May.
A multimedia platform, the NPM iPalace Channel enhances the experiences of visitors to the website and enables them to learn more about various exhibitions staged by the museum. An increasing number of educational institutions in Taiwan are using the platform to heighten the appreciation and awareness of students for the nation’s art treasures.
The NPM is expanding access to its extensive collection through the use of various interactive and multimedia platforms, as well as the latest technologies like computer animation, high-resolution 3-D digital imaging and virtual reality. Earlier this month, the museum collaborated with a team of National Taiwan University computer scientists on a cutting-edge VR project aimed at recreating iconic Chinese artworks.
Established in 1965, the NPM is home to the world’s largest collection of Chinese imperial art spanning 7,000 years from the prehistoric Neolithic period to the end of the Qing dynasty (1644-1911). Last year, the institution opened a second branch in southern Taiwan’s Chiayi County showcasing artifacts from diverse Asian civilizations. (KWS-E)
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