Beauty Unites Us-Chinese Art from the Vatican Museum, virtual view of the exhibition, 28/05/2019 – 14/07/2019, © The Palace Museum, PekingAN EVERYWHERE, NOWHERE BIENNIAL
Enhancing Online Biennial Experience
By Yunqi Yu
Biennials are known for their large-scale venues, knockout art, and international crowd traveling overseas ‘to see and be seen’. Besides occurring every other year, Biennials have in common the same aspiration to grandeur. However, the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted a well-established machine, proving biennials’ inadequacy to face these challenging times. From the 2020 Venice Biennale to the 2021 Sharjah Biennial, global events got canceled or postponed. Conversely, already inaugurated biennials during the first stage of the pandemic, such as Sydney and Berlin, had to find alternatives to their physical venues to justify their efforts and show a bite of their offerings. The digital realm came in handy as the most rapid response to a desperate need for presence.
Nevertheless, if the online sphere can solve some contingent issues of visibility, the exhibition digital format still falls short to be equally engaging and convey the same sense of awe. Today’s IT territory is yet an untapped realm for online events. However, both virtual reality and game playing can enhance the offline visit experience compellingly. For instance, The Palace Museum in Beijing has converted their exhibitions to virtual visits. Online viewers can walk through the exhibits as they would do in the physical space; they can read the wall panels and take a close look into objects with a mouse click.
Therefore, thanks to instant communication technology and programming, the future of biennials is to be virtual spaces. One day, physical content will disappear. Biennials will be everywhere and nowhere, resulting in a multi-person interaction and online data connected all in one.
Dungeons and Dragons, online game released on 2006/02/28,Turbine Co, USA. |