This section further expands the possibilities of animal drawings, moving from imagery to fantasy, and ushers viewers into imaginary ecosystems created by art and technology, diving into the ancient deep, traveling back into the 17th century, and exploring the stars with National Palace Museum treasures. Viewers are welcome to participate in the first-ever exhibition of the virtual reality (VR) experience, The Realm of Kunyu─An Adventure into the World of the 17th Century, traveling through time and space to meet Ferdinand Verbiest and together explore the mysterious universe. The Marvels Within the Sea Immersive Interactive Theater allows viewers to personally engage with real and imaginary artistic beasts from the deep, inspired by the drawings of the Qing artist Nie Huang in his work, Rich and Varied Products of the Sea. This section also includes the specially designed Ancient Aquatic Fauna Canopy, in which the marine organisms depicted in the Song-era Marvelous Marine Creatures and Qing-era Marvelous Sea Monsters are awakened, enabling viewers to lounge among them and engage in a vivid experience of history.
Marvels within the Sea immersive interactive theater
The vast ocean is home to infinite organisms and has supplied mankind for generations. Do you want to know how the ancients perceived the ocean and its abundant life forms?
This installation was inspired by Rich and Varied Products of the Sea, a compendium of fascinating sea creatures by 18th century Qing Dynasty painter Nie Huang, demonstrating the integration of science and art at the time. Featuring the otherworldly sea creatures depicted in the compendium, the installation renders the artist's extensive knowledge of natural history. The exhibit is based on interactive technology, light and sound effects and provides viewers with a novel experience of the NPM's digital new media works, welcoming visitors to travel back in time and explore the ocean depths of yore.
Ancient Aquatic Fauna Canopy
This exhibition offers a limited display of the Ancient Aquatic Fauna Canopy, in tandem with the Marvels Within the Sea Immersive Interactive Theater installation at the Hsinchu 241 Art Space.Images from Marvelous Marine Creatures by the Song Dynasty painter Liu Songnian, and Marvelous Sea Monsters from the Qing court, were incorporated into this large dynamic scrim projection, with real and imaginary aquatic organisms from different time periods brought together to swim around the canopy. We invite you to take off your shoes and dive into this ecological pool of ancient aquatic fauna,to begin a journey of artistic imagination.
Galaxy Adventure of the NPM Guardians
His animation film inherits National Palace Museum's long tradition of anthropomorphizing collection artifacts into animated characters, which transmit knowledge about the museum's special artifacts to help audiences gain a deeper knowledge of their cultural heritage. The story, roughly based on Journey to the West, tells how the four members of the Guardians of the NPM—Kui Hsing, the Monkey King,Pottery Pig, Madam Tang—work together to ensure a once-in-a-millenium astronomical alignment, which will bring peace and prosperity to the land. With this film, the National Palace Museum hopes to popularize a new generation of artifact stars to the museum's younger audiences.
The Realm of Kunyu—An Adventure into the World of the 17thCentury
The creatures introduced by the Western missionary Ferdinand Verbiest in the Kunyu Quantu (Great Universal Map) represented the most comprehensive knowledge of European Renaissance-era natural history in China at the time. For 17th-century China, the "Bailu (Peru) chicken" and "Orasius"depicted on the map were rare beasts from faraway lands, but for our modern selves, turkeys and giraffes are quite familiar animals. The Kunyu Quantu reflected the old and new knowledge of the universe, the world, and different cultures at the time, but compared with the understanding of the world in the 21st century now, have any changes occurred?
This virtual reality (VR) experience will take you through time and space to meet Father Ferdinand Verbiest and travel together with him through the kunyu (great universe), after which the National Treasures will take the lead to accompany Father Ferdinand Verbiest on an explorative journey through time and space to see modern creatures!