Digital technology gives immersive museum experience
The 10-story Stone Pagoda from Gyeongcheon Temple Site, national treasure no. 86, tells a story of honor and shame. The stone pagoda, known for its elaborate carvings of Buddha, bodhisattvas and scenes from the classic novel “Journey to the West,” was initially built at the Gyeongcheon Temple in Hwanghae Province in 1348 during the Goryeo period.
However, it was smuggled to Japan in 1907 by Tanaka Mitsuaki, then-Japanese Minister of Imperial Household Affairs, and returned to Korea in 1960. Upon its return, the pagoda was reconstructed at Gyeongbok Palace, instead of its original place, and then moved to its current location in the National Museum of Korea (NMK) in 2005 after a 10-year restoration project.
Now the pagoda gets a new life with the museum’s digital immersive project “Stories from Each Level of the Gyeongcheon Temple Pagoda.” As the sun goes down and darkness falls in the museum, colorful, moving images breathe new life into the stone tower. Iconic images from “Journey to the West” as well as Buddhist assemblies and rituals carved on each level of the pagoda come to life through a media art projection, complete with a dramatic finale with the Buddha’s attainment of Nirvana.
During the day, when the projection is not available due to lighting conditions, visitors can use a mobile application to see details of the pagoda and digitally restored images.
The NMK opened three Immersive Digital Galleries Wednesday, adding digital images, virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) technologies to enhance the appreciation of cultural properties.
“By the museum adopting new immersive technology, such as VR and AR technologies, we hope to offer the people new and unprecedented ways to experience our cultural heritage,” Culture Minister Park Yang-woo said at the opening ceremony of the new galleries.
At Immersive Digital Gallery 1, visitors can experience traditional paintings in a new way as media art featuring notable art pieces is projected on a 60-meter-wide, fivemeter-tall three-sided screen. The four videos depict a king’s procession based on “Uigwe: The Royal Protocols of Joseon Kingdom;” the Korean perspective on afterlife based on “Ten Kings of the Hell”; banquets of Taoist immortals based on “Paintings of Immortals’ Party at the Jade Pond”; and trips to Mount Geumgang based on Jeong Seon’s “Album of Mt. Geumgang in 1711.” Korean-Japanese musician Yang Bang-ean provided music for the gallery.
Visitors can also create their own “Chaekgado,” or scholar’s accoutrement painting, using a variety of objects both traditional and contemporary.
“Such media art was featured in some special exhibitions, but this is the first time for it to become a permanent installation. It is a museum gallery without actual artifacts,” said Lee Tae-hee, associate curator of the museum’s digitization division.
“Previously, text connected exhibits and viewers. However, images have grown in importance in this digital era and immersive contents like this can bridge cultural heritage and museumgoers.”
The contents are produced in partnership with the Korea Creative Content Agency (KCCA).
“We have extensive knowledge and data on cultural heritage, and the creators from the KCCA can turn this into more interesting content,” Lee said.
Immersive Digital Gallery 2, located on second floor, is themed “Into the Day of Supreme Peace.”
A late Joseon-era folded screen painting “The City of Supreme Peace,” which is scheduled to be exhibited in the Gallery of Calligraphy and Painting 2 from September to December, is transformed into a digital installation that animates over 2,100 characters in the painting in 8K Ultra HD quality. Viewers can magnify certain parts of the painting and participate in interactive events such as moving the flowerpots and putting horseshoes on horses.
Visitors can also have a peek at restricted areas such as the museum’s storage and conservation science office through VR headsets.
“Despite the state-of-the-art technology we used for the Immersive Digital Galleries, technology should not come to the front, but connect the humans with cultural properties,” Lee said.
At Immersive Digital Gallery 3, visitors can walk into tombs of Goguryeo Kingdom in “Encountering Goguryeo through Images on Stone Walls.” Based on the photos of three Goguryeo-era tombs in North Korea including the Great Gangseo Tomb, visitors can look at murals in a three-dimensional experience.
“As museum mostly exhibits historical artifacts, the importance of relics is often neglected. This will help visitors better understand the history of Goguryeo, which is practically impossible to go see in person as of now,” Lee said.
More national museums will join the digitization trend as the Cheongju National Museum and Gwangju National Museum opened their Immersive Digital Galleries and Daegu will follow in June.
“We are planning to expand the contents to shed new light on a variety of cultural properties. We will invite visitors into more large-scale paintings via media art and historic sites closed to public through VR,” Lee said.
It is a museum gallery without actual artifacts.