Digital Technology Breathes New Life into Ancient Korea

For over 75 years, the National Museum of Korea (NMK) has sought to educate its visitors about Korea’s long history and rich culture through a variety of mediums. Temporary and permanent exhibitions and educational workshops help museum visitors experience thousands of years of Korea’s history through a variety of artifacts including, but not limited to, paintings, pottery, and crowns. In addition to these exhibitions, the National Museum of Korea sponsors exhibitions that promote Korean culture all around the world. The hope is that these exhibitions will encourage cross-cultural acceptance and foster communication between Koreans and people from other cultures.

 

The National Museum of Korea, in partnership with the Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA), has constructed three new digital immersive digital galleries in the hopes that it will draw more interest in these cultural artifacts and in Korean history. In doing so, the National Museum of Korea has become the first museum in Korea to utilize this technology, although it is expected that others will follow suit soon. These galleries utilize a variety of modern technologies such as virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), motion-capture technology, and digital imagery. With these technologies visitors to the museum can experience normally stationary artifacts such as paintings in a new and immersive way.

 

The first of these galleries, known as “Immersive Digital Gallery 1,” uses digital imagery and a 60-meter-wide, 5-meter-tall three-sided screen to project traditional paintings that have been recreated using a video format. Through these paintings, gallery visitors can witness the royal procession of King Jeongjo and observe court dances, enjoy the seasonal changes of Mt. Geumgang, go on a journey through the Buddhist afterlife, and revel in the banquets of the Taoist immortals.

“Immersive Digital Gallery 2” is where museum visitors can interact even more with these paintings. Here, a late Joseon-era folded screen painting titled City of Supreme Peace has been animated with over 2,100 moving characters. Oftentimes these ancient paintings are not displayed for extended periods of time due to their sensitivity to light. However, with modern technology visitors can now interact with these paintings, such as moving items around or even playing games. By bringing the people and animals within this painting to life through HD digital video, the city and its festivities come to life in a way that brings an immersive element to the museum experience. When visitors are done playing games and creating their own version of a Joseon city, they can step into the world of virtual reality and take on the role of museum curator. The Conservation Center offers people the chance to virtually treat, analyze, and restore Korean national treasures such as pottery. In addition, the museum storage section allows visitors to take a sneak peek at items currently not on display, thus both protecting these artifacts while at the same time letting people see all that the museum has to offer.

In the final digital gallery, known as “Immersive Digital Gallery 3,” visitors to the museum can experience the tombs of the Goguryeo Kingdom as if they are truly stepping inside them. While most of these tombs are located in North Korea and as a result are inaccessible to South Koreans and many others, the use of 3D digital video allows for the up-close examination of the walls of these rooms and the murals inscribed upon them. Similar to the screens in “Immersive Digital Gallery 1,” the screens used to project these images cover three walls, in addition to the ceiling.

Perhaps the most visually stunning part of this new immersive experience is the Ten-Story Pagoda from the Gyeongcheonsa Temple. Having at one point been smuggled to Japan in 1907 before being returned in 1960, the Ten-Story Stone Pagoda has called the National Museum of Korea its home since 2005. Just like the three immersive digital galleries, this national treasure is now a feature of a media façade show that uses media art projection and depicts scenes from a book known as Journey to the West and Buddhist imagery. Every week people gather to witness the spectacle of lights that illuminate each story of the pagoda and bring viewers on a journey that travels through each of these ten stories. Those who miss the lights show, which can only be viewed during the evening, can still use their phones during the daytime to access an app that allows them to see these images without the need for the cover of darkness.

While some may be disappointed thinking that they are unable to see these galleries unless in person, in actuality these galleries are all available online. The National Museum of Korea has uploaded all videos from each of these galleries, including the lights show of Gyeongcheonsa Temple’s Ten-Story Stone Pagoda, to its website. Even though people may not be able to participate in the interactive experiences, such as the virtual reality artifact restoration or playing games in the City of Supreme Peace, visitors to the website can still enjoy watching the moving paintings of traditional Korea on their computer screen. With plans to expand the use of these technologies to other museums located in South Korea, the hope is that this marriage of tradition and modernity will spark the interests and curiosity of a new generation of children and young adults to learn more about Korea’s history and take an active role in its preservation and promotion throughout the world.

 

Written by: Nicole Bradshaw

Senior at University of Hawai’i at Manoa majoring in Korean for Professionals as part of the Korean Language Flagship Program. Previous student at Sogang University’s Korean Language Education Center. Currently participating in an internship at Voluntary Agency Network of Korea (VANK).