Supervisors 

Dr. Jeffrey C. F. Ho. ( Chief Supervisor)

Dr. Kenny K. N. Chow (Co-supervisor)

Qulifications

• BHons – Jilin arts University, China

• MSc – University of Sunderland, UK

            Yunnan arts University, China

Research Title:

Application of the Modern Technology Design Convergence in Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage

Keywords: 

Intangible Cultural Heritage, Interaction design, Storytelling, Gamification, Digital documentation, Aesthetic, Virtual reality, Aesthetic, Aesthetical culture, Storytelling, new technology.

Research Report:

Over the last two decades, the research on the adoption of modern technology (either augmented reality, virtual reality or mixed reality) to safeguard Intangible cultural heritage (ICH) and cultural heritage (CH) has flourished. The research area largely benefits from the development of technology and the gradual improvement of UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) relevant policies (Víctor Manuel López-Menchero Bendicho, and others, 2017). As an emerging field, proponents of new technology design have developed a theoretical underpinnings necessary to advance the relevant theories and practices. Nowadays, there is a wide range of applications of the modern technology to the protection of ICH and CH, such as interactive virtual humans in the context of cultural heritage (Simon Sénécal, Cadi,..and others, 2017), geometric documentation to protect historic, archaeological, and architectural information (Georgopoulos, 2017), mapping and digitizing archaeological sites (Verbiest, Proesmans,and others, 2017), and five-dimensional (5D) modelling to protect a church (Moropoulou, and others, 2017). The safeguarding of ICH is a complex task. The current research attempts to address it with a unified approach.The current research attempts to address it with a unified approach.

The history of safeguarding ICH can be traced back to two decades ago. Since the release of the UNESCO Convention for the safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2003, the protection of cultural traditions has received attention at an international level. Meanwhile, the aim of safeguarding ICH that their interaction with nature and their history, and provides them with a sense of identity and continuity, thus promoting respect for cultural diversity and human creativity (UNESCO,2003). Nevertheless, One of the most commonly used disciplines for the protection of intangible cultural heritage is anthropology (Arizpe, Amescua, 2013). In terms of research methods, these disciplines also use some modern technologies to identify, document, research, preservation, protection, promotion, enhancement and transmission intangible cultural heritage, but the application of these digital technologies is limited. Sometimes, they only realize the restoration of intangible cultural heritage from the perspective of technology. For instance, a real-time multimodal 3D capturing system restored one traditional sports and games (Tisserand, and others, 2017). The problem with such an implementation is that pay close attention to modern technologies rather than the fundamental problem of protection, namely, aesthetic. Because of the aesthetics of intangible cultural heritage is usually spread through its works. we usually make aesthetic judgment through visual and psychology level (Jacobsen, 2010). Intangible cultural heritage aesthetics is a kind of perceptual aesthetics, namely,aesthetic experience(Levinson, 2003). In many intangible cultural heritage aesthetics is a kind of perceptual aesthetics, namely,aesthetic experience(Levinson, 2003). In many intangible cultural heritages, the forms related to human psych (skin sense, touch, hearing, vision, taste, smell, etc.) are everywhere (Hoyer, 2012). The aesthetic feeling and pleasure of intangible cultural heritage in inheritance and transmission，in which it may come from the thrill of passion, the mellowness of touch, or the pleasing sight of vision cultural (Moore, 2004). Therefore, aesthetic is very important for safeguarding intangible cultural heritage.

Thus, taking the aesthetic relationship between people of different nationalities as the premise of research, the issue of aesthetics to safeguarding ICH is discussed from the forming mechanism of aesthetics. It is necessary to reanalyze conceptions of the role of aesthetics in the protection of intangible cultural heritage.

Methodology:

The research will use new technology to make one experiment. And Through a questionnaire survey to investigate the public attitude towards intangible cultural heritage is preliminarily studied. At last part, we will applied our theory to make one design model to safeguarding intangible cultural heritage.

Reference:

Arizpe, L., & Amescua, C. 2013. Anthropological perspectives on intangible cultural heritage. Springerbriefs in Environment Security Development & Peace, 6.

Georgopoulos, A. 2017. Data acquisition for the geometric documentation of cultural heritage. Springer International Publishing.

Hoyer, W. D., & Stokburger-Sauer, N. E. 2012. The role of aesthetic taste in consumer behavior. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 40(1), 167-180.

Jacobsen, T. 2010. Beauty and the brain: culture, history and individual differences in aesthetic appreciation. Journal of Anatomy, 216(2), 184-191.

Levinson, J.2003. Oxford handbook of aesthetics. US:Oxford University Press.

Menke, C., & Jackson, G. 2012. Force:a fundamental concept of aesthetic anthropology: a fundamental concept of aesthetic anthropology. Goethe Yearbook, 22(1), 306-309.

Moore, R. 2004. Aesthetic experience in the world of visual culture. Arts Education Policy Review, 105(6), 8.

Moropoulou, A., Georgopoulos, A. , Korres, M. , Bakolas, A. , Labropoulos, K. , & Agrafiotis, P. , et al. 2017. Five-dimensional (5d) modelling of the holy aedicule of the church of the holy sepulchre through an innovative and interdisciplinary approach. Springer International Publishing.

Simon Sénécal, Cadi, N., Marlène Arévalo, & Magnenat-Thalmann, N. 2017. Modelling Life Through Time: Cultural Heritage Case Studies. Mixed Reality and Gamification for Cultural Heritage. Springer International Publishing.

Awards: Cultural and creative design competition in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao (2020) - New Outstanding Work