With several major cultural, religious and sports events postponed or canceled and people spending less time in public due to concerns about COVID-19, online exhibitions are offering people a way of enjoying art and culture while staying home
Several of the nation’s museums, including the National Museum of History in Taipei, the National Palace Museum and the Chimei Museum in Tainan, offer virtual reality (VR) tours of their collections or special exhibitions on their Web sites.
Some of the online exhibitions offered by the history museum, which has been closed since 2018 for renovations, include “From Lines to Network: Chen Cheng-po and His Collection of Painting and Calligraphy” (線條到網絡:陳澄波與他的書畫收藏) and “A Window to Eastern Chou: Eastern Chou Relics Excavated from Honan” (東周實相:河南出土東周文物展).
Screen grab from the National Palace Museum Web site
Launched last year, the National Palace Museum’s virtual reality experience lets people see both the inside and outside of the museum and several of its most popular exhibits, including the Meat-shaped Stone (肉形石) and the Jadeite Cabbage (翠玉白菜).
The Chimei Museum, which launched its VR experience in 2017, has made all of its permanent exhibitions available in virtual reality.
Its online tour even allows users to see parts of the museum that are usually closed to regular visitors, such as the Chimei Hall and the roof terrace.
While the Taipei International Book Exhibition, which had been scheduled for last month, was postponed until May, organizers are promoting the sales of books linked to the show via online bookstores.
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