Tianlai.China—Museums without Walls: Porcelain Reborn on the Urban Digital Canvas

Description:

The Illustrated Manual of Famous Porcelain Through the Ages is a canonical work compiled by the Ming-dynasty connoisseur Xiang Yuanbian nearly five centuries ago. Through a combination of illustrations and annotations, it documents 83 masterpieces of porcelain from the Song, Yuan and Ming dynasties. Today, most of these objects have been lost to history, surviving only between the pages of the book.

The “Tianlai.China” project employs digital humanities methodologies to transform the contours, glazes and decorations of the 83 porcelains into a dynamic system of flowing digital particles. These particles break free from the ancient pages and soar into contemporary urban spaces — adhering to architectural facades, flowing across public screens, and weaving a five-hundred-year visual narrative upon the interface of the city.

This work responds to the theme “Reimagining Cultural Legacies” and embodies the spirit of “Museums without Walls”: cultural relics should not be locked in display cases; they should step into the city and everyday life. When 83 sets of data genes converge into a nebula on the Urban Digital Canvas of Changning, Shanghai, the essence of civilization is reborn in digital light.

Additional Information:

Exhibition Site: Nanfeng City Screen 2