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Cultural Heritage in a Digital World:the Future of the Museum and Digital Research Technologies

Cultural Heritage Lectures
In this lecture series, researchers and curators discuss how to bring new life to East Asian art by exploring digital technologies and virtual environments. Each speaker addresses different functions that digital tools have in their work and how these help them answer new research questions and broaden access to East Asian heritage. The use of photography in the conservation of ancient sites and architectural reconstruction is the focus of Dr. Frances Terpak’s talk; architectural modelling and digital simulation of movement are employed by Dr. Pania Mu in her analysis of Chinese landscape painting; and the development of a virtual environment for the museum is addressed by Dr. Stephan von der Schulenburg in connection to the challenges posed by the Covid pandemic.

All lectures will be in person and online. Limited seats available in room: CATS 010.00.01.

Registration

To receive access to the online lectures, please register. For questions contact Dr. Monica Klasing Chen.


 

Schedule

Monday, November 15, 2021

Live at 14:15-16:00 CET / Rebroadcast at 17:15 CET
Dr. Frances Terpak, Senior Curator and Head of Photographs, The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles:Palmyra and Beijing: Uses of Early (Colonial) Photography in Conservation, Digital Humanities, and Critical Museum Studies
show abstract
Nineteenth-century photographs, taken during travel and colonial occupations, represent primary research tools for studying and reconstructing monumental and archaeological sites damaged during war and natural disasters, or through looting. The ancient trading center of Palmyra is one such site. During the current Syrian conflict, local residents have sought shelter in archaeological sites, further altering their state of preservation. This session will explore the history and value of photography as an aid to virtual and physical reconstruction. Creator of “Return to Palmyra” (2021), a digital resource that foregrounds the importance of photography in the conservation of ancient sites, Dr. Terpak will discuss the process of transforming an exhibition, “The Legacy of Ancient Palmyra” into an enduring online resource. https://www.getty.edu/research/exhibitions_events/exhibitions/palmyra/ She also organized the groundbreaking exhibition “Brush and Shutter: Early Photography in China (2011).” Both exhibits draw from the extensive photography collections of the GRI, documenting China, South and Southeast Asia, North African, the Middle East, Turkey and Asia Minor. Combined with engravings, travel accounts, and ephemera, these materials highlight the importance of visual records, data, and field notes in preserving the world’s cultural heritage.

Monday, December 6, 2021

Live at 14:15-16:00 CET
Dr. Pania Mu, Postdoctoral Researcher, CATS, Heidelberg University:Suzhou Surging Wave Pavilion: Translating Landscape Paintings into Architectural Drawings
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As digital methods become a promising new trend in analysing landscape paintings, the role of architectural modelling in this approach awaits further investigation. This research uses architectural modelling to decipher paintings of the Surging Wave Pavilion site in China and yields new perspectives. Using digital models to simulate viewing and movement, the results show that artists’ crafted ways of seeing in the pictorial space were realised by manipulating the vantage viewpoint, selecting artefacts and scenic elements, and altering the portrayed objects’ geo-locations. Artists represented vicarious movement by relating to and intensifying the on-site touring experience. Apart from revealing artists’ visual devices, the translated architectural drawings assist in contextualising the viewers’ bodily experience in the space.

Monday, January 17, 2022

Live at 14:15-16:00 CET / Rebroadcast at 17:15 CET
Dr. Stephan von der Schulenburg, Curator Asian Collection, Museum Angewandte Kunst Frankfurt:Applied Arts in Perspective: Collecting and Displaying Asian Art in Frankfurt
show abstract
In the history of German museums, Asian art was initially placed in ethnographic museums to be studied as material culture in relation to religious and folk practices; in the early years of the twentieth century, the growing awareness of East Asian objects as a significant part of “world art” shaped practices of display and defined the collections of specialized museums in Berlin and Köln. The Museum of Applied Arts (Museum Angewandte Kunst) in Frankfurt takes yet another approach, which became representative of German crafts museums. Founded as a crafts association in 1877, the collection had a strong focus on applied arts, but the East Asian holdings also included so-called “fine arts” objects; i.e., painting, sculpture, calligraphy, and prints.
The Museum Angewandte Kunst has gone through remarkable changes since its opening in 1985. In its early years, the building’s unique architecture attracted large crowds; since 2012, visitors have come to the museum for the radically new, and sometimes controversial, exhibition strategy of Matthias Wagner K., the museum’s director. The Covid pandemic, its associated financial challenges, and the new sensitivity towards provenance research, has led the museum to rethink its strategies for collecting and displaying objects both in physical exhibits and on the museum website. This lecture will present a survey of the museum’s changing profile and address present-day challenges.
 
This lecture series is organized by Prof. Dr. Sarah E. Fraser in conjunction with her Winter 2021-22 seminar “Decolonizing the Museum: Cultural Heritage in the Post-Pandemic World“ and the “Digital Humanities Certificate.”
Lectures by Dr. Terpak and Dr. von der Schulenburg are supported by the Gleichstellungsbüro of Heidelberg University.
Verantwortlich: SH
Letzte Änderung: 25.11.2021
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