In light of social equality and accessibility being the focus all over the world in recent years, the National Palace Museum (NPM) has collaborated with New Taipei Municipal Bangqiao Senior High School to launch a project "An Eye for National Treasure from NPM" as part of its special exhibition "Facets of Authority : A Special Exhibition of Imperial Portraits from the Nanxun Hall (權力的形狀—南薰殿帝后像特展).”
The goal of the project is not only to guide students to understanding the collection and exhibitions, but also to challenge their critical thinking skills and design solutions, and help the visually impaired enjoy the NPM’s masterpieces.
For this project, three emperor chair replicas were produced, which not only requires the keen eye of a designer, but also the well-honed skills of a master craftsman. Yung Shing Furniture, which supervises the project, noted that the most interesting aspect about this project is the application of a variety of state-of-the-art techniques coupled with traditional woodworking techniques, which blends the old and the new. By fusing tradition and technology, the visually impaired audiences will also be given the opportunity to "see" the paintings.
NPM hopes that visitors will feel that they have learned something and are moved by the art and artifacts presented in the galleries. Not only will this help the visually impaired, but will also provide the wider public with a deeper understanding of the details of the objects in the paintings.
Associate curator Chiu Shi-hua (邱士華) said that by integrating the students’ coursework with the NPM’s collection, it allows for a deeper appreciation of the significance of these art and artifacts.
New Taipei Municipal Banqiao Senior High School noted that after sharing some ideas with visually impaired friends and gaining valuable insight, the school began to think of converting the details in the paintings into real 3D objects with the aim of conveying the notion of "divine authority" in the emperors' portraits to the visually impaired.