"I really hope that every exhibition, there are experts to do detailed tour!"
Last weekend, the Shanghai Museum, which was closed by the epidemic, launched a cloud tour activity, netizens followed the footsteps of Yang Zhigang, director of the Shanghai Museum, and enjoyed more than 20 important cultural relics in the new exhibition of the Shanghai Museum, "Sheng Shi Fanghua - Shanghai Museum Donated Cultural Relics Exhibition", in addition to the historical facts carried by the cultural relics themselves, the visitors also learned about the little-known tortuous donation story behind them. As of 22:00 that night, the "cloud tour" was played 738,000 times in real time across the network.
However, just when many netizens are looking forward to "every exhibition has an expert tour", some people also proposed that the original intention of the exhibition is to let the audience learn and understand the story behind it through physical objects and basic information, and if they do not do their homework, they will lose the meaning of viewing the exhibition.
What is the "right posture" for viewing the exhibition? Different visitors have different views.
Square: "Guided tour" is extended learning
In last week's guided tour, the first exhibit to be introduced was the Southern Song Dynasty Zhang Jizhi's "Book of Letters to Be Leaked". Many people's first reaction when they see cultural relics is "What is waiting to be leaked?" Yang Zhigang made a detailed introduction to this, the so-called "waiting for leakage of the courtyard" is the place where the ancient ministers gathered to wait to enter the hall together when they were in the dynasty. Under his guidance, the audience can understand from this calligraphy work that originally did not have a sentence to read the two questions of the outline: "The heavenly path does not speak, and what is the meaning of the character and the success of the years?" "The saints do not speak, but the people are close to each other, and those who are in peace, what is it?" The whole article is based on answering two questions.
"If it wasn't for the expert introduction, what I would see would have been just a few big words." Wu Fei, who is engaged in graphic design, watched the live broadcast and felt that the gains were very rich, "there is knowledge and background and even 'gossip'". Although Wu Fei used to visit local museums and art galleries when traveling at home and abroad, it was basically "taking pictures and looking at the shape when allowed". Although local guides are sometimes asked to explain, the cookie-cutter commentary makes it difficult to blend the exhibits with the history and stories behind them. "A lot of movies have 'director commentary' when they are released on DVD, and I hope that future exhibitions will have a curator or industry expert to give a professional tour."
Although the curators rubbed the inscriptions on the bronzes on the exhibition, without expert guidance, it is difficult for the general audience to pay attention to the details of the content, and it is even more difficult to interpret them in connection with other cultural relics
"Many cultural relics and exhibits are inconspicuous details in the eyes of ordinary people, but there is actually a wealth of knowledge behind them, and it is difficult to notice these details without expert guidance." Ms. Chen, who works at a university in Shanghai, is a lover of culture and literature, and was attracted by the mysterious "god face patterns" when she visited the Shanghai Museum's Exhibition of Bronze Cultural Relics in the Bad country last year, but she had heard a friend who was a deputy research librarian of the Bronze Research Department of Shangbo reminded her that there was a seemingly ordinary bronze bottle with a big article: the inscription inside the bottle mentioned that the surname of the Badhou Marquis at that time was "Ji", which was the same surname as the King of Zhou. An inscription on another bronze vessel of the Bad country hidden in the National Palace in Taipei shows that the surname of the Badhou who was previously suppressed was "姞". "Were the two surnames the same clan, or did the King of Zhou later reseal his clan as princes of the Kingdom of Nightmares?" These reverie details, without experts 'pointing questions', the general audience simply can not pay attention. ”
In addition to the professional interpretation of the exhibits, the experts' personal extension of the stories behind the exhibits and the curatorial ideas is considered by many visitors to be "treasures". In this tour, there is a round box with rhinoceros cloud pattern from the Han to Three Kingdoms period, and when talking about the process of painting the round box on the outer layer of wooden tires, Yang Zhigang gave an example of his own experience: in the past, he taught in a school, and a classroom needed to be renovated but the funds were limited, so he painted on the original desks and chairs. After two or three strokes, it was dry to the touch, but once it sat down, it would be stuck, and then it was dried for several months. "Carved lacquerware needs to be painted and dried repeatedly, which is a lot of time and effort in between." He lamented that many people now talk about lacquerware and think of Japanese lacquerware, but China's craftsmanship has reached a very high level more than 2,000 years ago, "the museum should tell the story of China well, tell the history of China clearly by telling the story of China, trace the history of china through the real source of the object, show the history through the physical image, and tell the world the truth of history." ”
Yu Bin, a lover of cultural and bo, admits that experts often carry their own feelings when touring, which will make the process of viewing the exhibition more stimulating cultural confidence.
The opposite: do not do homework "look lonely"
Recently, a set of old photographs on social platforms began to circulate: at the end of 2002, the Shanghai Museum exhibited 72 authentic calligraphy and paintings of the national treasure level, including 22 authentic calligraphy and paintings of the Jin, Tang, Song and Yuan dynasties, such as "Qingming on the River", which had never walked out of the Forbidden City in Beijing.
"The scene at that time can be said to be an empty alley." Lu Wei, who is engaged in content operations at an Internet company, remembers that he had just gone to college and visited the exhibition with his classmates, "from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m." However, in retrospect, Lu Wei's memory of these heirloom treasures is almost blank: "I remember that there are many people, and I can only move slowly, and I don't know what to see."
Later, after reading many books and materials, Lu Wei gradually understood the information hidden in these national treasures: "For example, does the painting record the scene that Qingming can also marry?" Was the end of the painting directly cut off? Lu Wei sighed that if he could do some homework 20 years ago, his memory would not be blank. Nowadays, although Lu Wei does not see many exhibitions, he will choose the exhibitions that he is interested in and has accumulated, "otherwise he will only take photos and send circles of friends when he runs to the hot spots, what is the difference between him and the Internet celebrities who punch in?" ”
"Expert guiding is like a teacher imparting knowledge, it is a learning method for primary school students; self-study is both a ability and a habit." Although Qi Min, who studied literature and science at the university, is now working in finance in Beijing, he still maintains his love for museums. Before each visit, she will understand the theme of the exhibition and the main cultural relics: "Now the information is very developed, all kinds of vertical public accounts and the museum itself can find a lot of resources, you can compare and learn, and then look at the physical object, the feeling will be different." She agrees with the "streamlined introduction" model adopted by most museums at present, "the more text introductions, the easier it is to be subjective, and it is better to let visitors feel it for themselves." Even if there is an authoritative opinion, visitors should respect their feelings. ”
In 2019, Mr. Weng Wange donated his family collection to Bo
During last weekend's tour, she noticed that the cultural relics on display included Shen Zhou's "Lindai into Xie Andongshan Map", and the donor was Weng Wange, a descendant of Weng Tonggong, and this past was also told again in the live broadcast. Mr. Weng Wange donated "Lindai into Xie Andongshan Map" and "Du Fu's Poetic Intentions" to Xiangbo, and as a museum, he is of course grateful and respectful. But at the time, he was controversial about donating a large number of family artifacts from his family's historical collection to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. In this regard, Qi Min examined the information at that time in detail: "If you only absorb the knowledge of experts or other aspects instead of doing your own homework, it is still less fun to observe and think." These cultural relics or works of art that have traveled through thousands of years should ultimately guide the visitors to think for themselves. ”
However, many visitors visited by the reporter said that from professional explanations, expert tours to rich information resources, museums and art galleries as public cultural institutions may not be stuck to a service model, not only with in-depth analysis and discussion to serve senior enthusiasts, but also through the dissemination of relaxed image to attract more people. Taking the Shanghai Museum as an example, in addition to the exhibition methods that most people are most familiar with, there are also guided tours and related lectures, and there are also a large number of resources online that can be read for free.