Lift an oil lamp, drill into the "Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes Cave 220", enjoy every detail of the "Medicine Master Buddhist Sutra Variation Dance Map", sit in the 63-meter circumferential light and shadow theater, watch the dancers dressed in flying costumes restore the mural dance, and feel the "past and present life" of the millennium Dunhuang culture...
At the beginning of the new year in 2022, the multimedia light and shadow exhibition "Dunhuang Wonderland - The Mystery of the Legendary Cave 220 Caves" jointly produced by Dunhuang Research Institute and Shanghai Zero Card Culture Development Co., Ltd. will be opened to the public in the century-old building of Shanghai Shangsheng Xinsuo, and the exhibition will last until March 22, adding traditional cultural enthusiasm to the New Year cultural tourism market.
Starting with a mural of music and dance, the long cultural journey from Dunhuang to Chang'an of the Tang Dynasty a thousand years ago was presented to the public.
The picture shows the exhibition site.
According to reports, Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes have preserved 735 caves from the 4th to 14th centuries AD, including 492 caves with frescoes and painted sculptures. Cave 220 of Mogao Caves was created in the early Tang Dynasty and contains the inscription of the sixteenth year of Zhenguan. 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 true sense of the transmutation dance diagram.
Interestingly, in the remote border of Dunhuang, the murals are full of "Chang'an elements". Originally, the large band in the mural was considered by scholars to be the "classic configuration" of the Chang'an banquet: Ruan Xian, vertical basket, basket, waist drum in the hands of the musicians... These almost lost musical instruments appear in the Dunhuang murals.
According to historical records, there are as many as 300 kinds of musical instruments in the Tang Dynasty, and the Tang Dynasty is also a brilliant era in the history of ancient Chinese music, regardless of scale, orchestra organization, artistic standards, and expressiveness, all of which reflect the grand, open and diversified atmosphere that fits the times.
In addition, the large lamp wheel lamp tree in the mural is considered by scholars to be the background of the Hu Whirling Dance performance at that time. Various clues show that the music and dance scenes in the murals are likely to be a "delicate depiction" of the large lantern festival on the first night of the Chang'an City in the Tang Dynasty.
Different from people's appreciation of the real Dunhuang Caves, this exhibition introduces contemporary curatorial concepts, turning the mottled and silent Dunhuang Caves into a contemporary "light and shadow dance show" with a rich sense of experience and fun, and exploring new ways to promote traditional culture to come alive and fire.
In the exhibition, people follow the donor of Cave 220 of Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes to find the dream of Chang'an, not only can punch in the highly simulated "restored cave" to take photos, but also can enjoy the song and dance drama "The Other Shore Flower" in the immersive theater, and can also travel through time into Dunhuang and Chang'an, walk through the Lantern House Tavern, and enjoy the entertainment of the ancients.
"In the 1980s, Mr. Fan Jinshi proposed the concept of 'Digital Dunhuang'. After almost 40 years, we have now digitized more than 200 caves. At present, Dunhuang Research Institute hopes to use high-tech means to make the ancient Dunhuang art achieve creative transformation and innovative development, so that it can go out of the grottoes, travel around the world, tour the exhibition in various places, and convey the beauty of Dunhuang to everyone in a way that can be appreciated, felt, heard, read and traveled. Yu Tianxiu, deputy director of the Conservation research Department of the Dunhuang Research Institute, said.
Reporter: Sun Liping
Editors: Leng Yanyan, Chen Dongshu
Image courtesy of the organizer