Page 12 - AC-3-3

Arts & Communication Immersive curatorial practice

the early, middle, and late periods of Zhang Daqian’s
and Qi Baishi’s lives. This presentation allowed for a
nuanced examination of the two artists’ creative outlooks
across different eras, facilitating a reassessment of their
contributions to the field of Chinese painting. This represents
a significant contribution to the ongoing discourse on the
evolution of Chinese painting and contemporary Chinese
art in the global context. The immersive exhibition presented
an animated version of Zhang Daqian’s 1946 masterpiece,
Scenery by the Riverside (Figure 1). This exhibition, with a
comprehensive grasp of the artwork and the artist as its core
focus, transcended the most pivotal and complex creative
aspect of immersive exhibitions. Designing animated
artwork as if it were a standalone painting represents
a narrow-minded approach. To accurately recreate the
artwork in an animated format, it is essential to conduct
thorough research into a multitude of aspects, including
historical information, historical art references, thematic
content, esthetic tones, artistic techniques, character roles,
time periods, and seasonal depictions. It is only with this
foundation can a comprehensive study can be conducted
to determine the most suitable animation production
method. Technically, the choice of animation technique is
crucial in determining the esthetic qualities of the artwork.
This decision encompasses the selection of 3D, motion
graphics, frame-by-frame, hand-drawn, stop-motion,
autostereoscopic 3D, or folding screen animation; the
choice of multi-camera setups or single-shot sequences,
true single-shot sequences, or fake single-shot sequences;
and the selection of dynamic logic, camera movements, Figure 1. Zhang Daqian’s masterpiece, Scenery by the Riverside. Adapted
music, sound effects, and rhythm. from https://baijiahao.baidu.com/s?id=1742757430845230973&wfr=spid
er&for=pc.
The concept of Scenery by the Riverside encapsulates
the esthetic principles of perspective, distance, and depth of the original work, constructing a 3D scene to enhance
as they are employed in Chinese painting. The utilization the depth of the scene. The combination of single-shot
of basic 3D technology may potentially result in the sequences resulted in the viewer experiencing the effect of
impairment of the artwork’s overall esthetic quality. The “people walking in the painting.”
application of the brush to rice paper or silk, whether slow
and deliberate or swift and light, gives rise to the figures, The process of developing artworks into animations
landscapes, flowers, and birds that are the subjects of these enables the synchronization of their display with the original
works. The interplay of these techniques creates a sense of works at exhibitions. This allows for a mutual comparison to
reality and virtuality, of softness and stiffness, of heaviness be made between the two forms of expression and presents
and lightness, and of lingering and swiftness. There is a risk the content and esthetic qualities of the artworks more
that, through the use of 3D modeling and materials, the vividly. In addition, it can serve as a means of public art
visuals may inadvertently evoke the stylistic conventions education, particularly for younger audiences, in instances
of animations or cartoons, which would fail to achieve the where the exhibition of original works is not a viable option
desired level of visual vibrancy. Accordingly, the Scenery due to their rarity. Moreover, the process of animating
by the Riverside animation employs a motion graphics artwork can result in many commercial opportunities,
animation (dynamic graphics or graphic animation) including direct commercial licensing.
production method, which is essentially a 2D animation 6. Conclusion
technique. This approach allows for the most effective
restoration of the artwork’s esthetic qualities. Concurrently, Immersive art exhibitions are human-centered,
the production team extracted and layered all elements representing an art form that is closely related to the social,

Volume 3 Issue 3 (2025) 6 doi: 10.36922/ac.3377