The Chinese cultural artefacts that the museum wanted us to base our work on were introduced to us. The objects all had poems that had been written that introduced us to the objects purpose, it’s history and its cultural significance to the people who made them.
The choice of objects was mine and my partners, as we chose the horse, as it had the most immediate transference to 3D animation, considering it’s cultural significance of being a horse that is capable of riding to heaven.
We contributed to the sticky note wall, including our ideas for how we would manipulate and represent the horse, in which categories, the work was taking place. The post -t wall allowed us to see the ideas and working of other groups, which was useful and reassuring that we were doing the right thing. It also allowed us to see different possible ways that the objects could be brought to life, beyond the static glass cabinet, which I found so appealing. I realised that since I didn't have a background in museums and galleries, I was actually the target audience that the museum was trying to reach, as they were not just trying to maintain the interest of their present customers, they were also trying to reach the new audience, and connect across cultures and different backgrounds.
The Chinese gallery was the focus of the museum objects, following on from having had the Terracotta Warriors. Many of the suggestions we made were identified as being culturally inappropriate and we realised it was too easy to be unintentionally racist in our approaches, therefore we had to consider carefully and check with the museum if our ideas were sensitive to the culture of the pieces, and racially appropriate.
We were first presented with some A4 images and information fact sheets on the six objects that the museum wanted us to work on. These gave a very brief outline of the basic information about the project. On reflection it was interesting to look at how we responded to the flat 2D image and the basic facts, as we would be trying to bring this object to life. Material presence theory that I used in my dissertation, describes this effect, the difference of encountering a real object and encountering it as a 2D representation. The need to meet and greet the object, to experience it in real life was overwhelming as it was difficult to pick up a feel for the object unless you had actually encountered it. This of course is at the heart of the process that we were engaged with, to bring the object to life for the viewer, to create an encounter that was meaningful and allowed a 3D experience for the viewer, thus crossing the boundary from 2D to 3D and to give a sense of presence of the object for the viewer. For the viewer to be able to interact with the object was also an essential aspect of the encounter. For them to have control over their viewpoint , by placing it within their own environment virtually achieves the desired crossover.
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