Cave 220 of the Mogao Caves was created in the early Tang Dynasty, and the music and dance scene of the medicine master on the north wall of the main room of the cave occupies one-third of the entire picture, and the scene is grand. This is the earliest and true sense of the warp music dance map, and its theme and layout are of epoch-making significance.
The Paper has learned that on December 31, 2021, the first national exhibition of the multimedia exhibition "Dunhuang Wonderland - The Mystery of the Legendary Cave 220 Caves" was officially opened at the Shanghai Urban Renewal Landmark Shangsheng New Institute. As an offline multimedia special cave special exhibition authorized and guided by dunhuang research institute, the exhibition focuses on the murals of cave 220 of the "special caves" of Mogao Grottoes, and strives to show the latest achievements in the study of Dunhuang mural music and dance.
Restoration cave passage at the exhibition site
Dunhuang, not just the "Nine Colored Deer" in the cartoon
On the afternoon of December 31, 2021, accompanied by the sound of pipa music played on the spot, the multimedia exhibition "Dunhuang Wonderland - The Mystery of the Legendary Cave 220 Caves" opened at The Shangsheng New Institute.
Yu Tianxiu, deputy director of the Conservation and Research Department of Dunhuang Research Institute, director of the Institute of Digitization of Cultural Relics and researcher, said in his speech that Dunhuang Research Institute has been committed to the exploration and practice of "digital Dunhuang" for many years, using digital technology to completely preserve the artistic information of Dunhuang Grottoes, truly reproduce the charm of Dunhuang art, and let the ancient Dunhuang art walk out of the grottoes, out of Dunhuang, and come to the public's side with scientific and technological power. "The 'Dunhuang Wonderland - The Mystery of the Legendary Cave 220 Caves', co-produced with Zero Card Culture, is another exploration of the creative transformation and innovative dissemination of the digital achievements of the grottoes of the Dunhuang Research Institute."
In 366 AD, the Former Qin monk Le Dai excavated the first grotto in the western foothills of Mingsha Mountain in Dunhuang, and for more than a thousand years, through 11 dynasties, countless devout devotees and monks opened statues here. 735 grottoes, more than 2,000 painted sculptures, 45,000 square meters of murals, and tens of thousands of cultural relics of the Tibetan Scripture Caves together constitute a splendid art culture of Dunhuang. In order to manage the Mogao Grottoes, a world cultural heritage, study Dunhuang culture and art, and explore the mysteries of Dunhuang Grottoes and Silk Road civilization, the National Dunhuang Art Research Institute was established in 1944, and the Dunhuang Research Institute has developed into a research-oriented cultural and museum management institution with the largest number of world cultural heritages and the widest cross-regional scope in China.
"Dunhuang Wonderland - The Mystery of the Legendary Cave 220 Caves" exhibition site
"Under the dedication of countless predecessors, the humanistic and artistic research of our institute has continued to expand to a deeper and broader field, completed dozens of major national and provincial research projects and topics related to Dunhuang Studies, published hundreds of monographs, published thousands of papers, obtained the qualification of national archaeological excavation group leader, and completed the establishment of Dunhuang Science Information Resource Library." Continue to carry out cooperation and exchanges with Peking University, Tokyo University of the Arts in Japan, getty Conservation Institute and other universities at home and abroad, research institutes in many fields such as cultural relics protection, humanistic research, talent training, etc., and continue to hold international academic conferences such as the 'Dunhuang Forum' every year, inclusive and actively promote the world's research and exchange of Dunhuang culture. Wu Qiongfang, deputy director and associate researcher of the Cultural and Creative Research Center of Dunhuang Research Institute, said, "Although we have done a lot of work, the protection of Dunhuang Grottoes has been at the forefront of the world's cultural relics protection community; our Dunhuang studies have also changed the state of 'Dunhuang in China, Dunhuang studies abroad'." Our tourism management and openness have also become a model for world heritage sites. However, we still have a long way to go to understand and promote the cultural values of Dunhuang. ”
Over the years, dunhuang research institutes have continuously tried to use new cultural carriers to disseminate the achievements of research and protection over the years, including drawing creativity from Dunhuang culture and art, introducing Dunhuang elements into current design, creating more cultural and creative products with aesthetic and cultural significance, and building an international cultural and creative platform to promote the deep integration of cultural creativity and protection research, cultural promotion, and tourism openness. Previously, Dunhuang Research Institute also cooperated with Tencent to develop the 'Cloud Tour Dunhuang' Mini Program, and cooperated with Huawei to develop the Dunhuang AR Visiting and Guiding Platform, so that everyone can stay at home and understand the Dunhuang culture thousands of miles away. The cooperation with Zero Card Culture to introduce the Dunhuang Music and Dance Theme Multimedia Exhibition to Shanghai is another active exploration of the Dunhuang Research Institute in the mode of communication.
Dunhuang Wonderland, showing the latest achievements in the study of mural music and dance
According to the curators, the content of dunhuang Mogao Grottoes involves all aspects of ancient social life such as religion, culture, art, politics, economy, and military. How to make a good trade-off in the huge amount of information and take the exhibition audience into dunhuang culture is a major problem encountered by the curatorial team. "Under the guidance of the expert team of Dunhuang Research Institute, we chose the music and dance that is closest to life as the entry point, taking the music and dance images on the mural as the theme, focusing on the representative of the music and dance image - Cave 220 of the Mogao Grottoes, and unveiling a corner of the picture of the life of the early Tang Dynasty through the murals." Starting from a single special cave is also a creative attempt of this exhibition on the theme of Dunhuang. ”
Cave 220 of Mogao Caves was founded in the early Tang Dynasty and contains the inscription of the sixteenth year of Zhenguan (642). The scene of the medicine man's transformation on the north wall of the main room of the cave occupies one-third of the entire picture, and the scene is grand. At the same time, this is also the earliest and true sense of the warp music dance map, and its theme and layout are of epoch-making significance. "This exhibition chose to focus on Cave 220 of the Mogao Caves, not only because of its legend and artistic achievements, but also because it opened a window for the audience to understand the life of Chang'an in the early Tang Dynasty. The large-scale orchestra configuration in the murals, the large lamp wheel lamp trees, and the music and dance scenes that most scholars believe to be Hu Xuan dances, various clues point to the source of the murals to the large lantern festival on the first night of Chang'an City. The curator introduced.
The exhibition strives to present the latest achievements in the study of Dunhuang mural music and dance. At the same time, the curatorial team also invited literary and historical experts, musicians, and multimedia design teams to jointly develop and produce, carefully study the rational restoration of the social picture of the early Tang Dynasty, the new interpretation of the color of the murals, the contemporary interpretation of Datang music and other curatorial difficulties, and restore, reconstruct and reinterpret the Dunhuang murals with a thousand-year history through modern methods. In addition, the exhibition also introduces new formats such as liquor stores and dance dramas in the exhibition space, breaking the restrictions of the exhibition space. Every night, the exhibition hall will be transformed into a desert-themed "Moonrise Liquor Store", integrating the scene of secular feasting and drinking in the Dunhuang murals into the nightlife of modern people.
"Dunhuang Wonderland - The Mystery of the Legendary Cave 220 Caves" is a three-year global touring exhibition project, the first stop of the exhibition is selected in Shangsheng Xinshou, which is a sample of Shanghai's "urban renewal", and the park is committed to creating an international cultural and artistic district with a strong artistic atmosphere. The Navy Club in the park has a century-old history.
It is reported that every Friday and Saturday night, the first domestic music and painting interactive song and dance drama "The Other Shore Flower" will be staged here. The dance drama is based on Dunhuang murals, specially invited well-known choreographers and up-and-coming dancers to fully develop more possibilities for the integration of body movements with other media through the use of new media and new venue models.
It is reported that the exhibition is jointly produced by Dunhuang Research Institute and Shanghai Zero Card Cultural Development Co., Ltd., and co-sponsored by Shangsheng Xinshou. The exhibition officially opened to the public on January 1, 2022, and the subsequent tour will continue until March 22, 2022.