Should online explanations under the trend of research and learning be handled?, When the museum strictly regulates social explanations, the video | explanation | museum
Recently, cultural and museum enthusiast Lv Rong, who was traveling to Xi'an, did not use the explanation equipment in the museum. Instead, he connected his phone to a headphone cable and played an online explanation video: "Some explanation videos even have arranged the tour route, and I just need to follow along."
The reporter found through search that there are many "study" and "guide" videos targeting popular museums and high-quality exhibitions available online. Recently, several cultural and museum venues, including the National Museum of China, Shandong Museum, and Shanghai Museum, have introduced management measures for social lectures inside the museum, specifying that no lecture activities can be conducted inside the museum without permission. But these online study tour videos directly bypass the regulations and enter the museum through a clear space.
In the view of some industry insiders, although online explanations can avoid disrupting the order of museum visits, there is still a risk of spreading incorrect knowledge and viewpoints, and misinterpreting curatorial concepts, which should be managed; In the eyes of some citizens and cultural and museum enthusiasts, cultural and museum institutions need to meet the strong needs of visitors in more innovative ways.
Offline exhibition and online learning
After finally making an appointment with the Shaanxi History Museum, Lv Rong, who works in finance, did his homework before leaving and found a two-hour video explaining the Shaanxi History Museum online. "This is my first time visiting the Shaanxi History Museum, and this video has selected important cultural system explanations that are very useful to me," he said
In the comments section of this video, some netizens expressed their intention to "hold the video for a visit", while others carefully marked the time of entering different exhibition halls, making it convenient for users to slide the video according to their own itinerary. Some netizens also expressed that although they cannot interact with on-site explanations at any time, communicating with the author and other netizens through bullet comments and comments can also solve some questions.
Some viewers who watch exhibitions and listen to videos express gratitude below the video
Some video uploaders also "break it down" and independently edit explanations of individual cultural relics within the same museum. A video collection explaining the Xi'an Beilin Museum includes 84 videos named after cultural relics, ranging in length from 20 minutes to 2 minutes. Some netizens praised it as "convenient to find and watch".
Some cultural and museum enthusiasts have introduced that many museums mainly provide explanations for permanent exhibitions, but they prefer to receive explanations for various temporary and special exhibitions with limited holding time. For example, for the permanent exhibition, at least 8 volunteer explanation services will be provided per day, and the time will be announced at the service desk in the museum; The previously popular National Gallery of Fine Arts collection exhibition in the UK, taking into account various factors such as customer flow, mainly relies on social art education classrooms for manual guided tours, providing regular services to student groups. Mr. You, a citizen who has visited this exhibition four times, expressed understanding: "The special exhibition has a very large audience, and if manual explanations are carried out, the exhibition hall may not be able to move."
However, online, some people have launched online explanations specifically for such special exhibitions. A user who signed online as a "Youth Humanities General Education Course Teacher" launched a video titled "How to Appreciate" in April this year, introducing multiple exhibits of the exhibition in just over an hour. In response to the second exhibition of the "Why China" cultural relics and archaeology exhibition series currently being held on the Shanghai Expo, "Empirical China: Songze Liangzhu Civilization Archaeology Special Exhibition", the user has once again launched an explanatory video, which lasts more than 2 hours and has a more straightforward title - "Explanation of Shanghai Museum".
Does the exhibition have copyright?
The reporter saw that these online explanatory resources, relying on museum exhibitions, heavily utilized photos from within the museum. For the two special exhibitions of the National Gallery of Fine Arts in the UK and "Empirical China", almost all of them were photos of cultural relics taken at the exhibition. And some of the explanatory videos from Shaanxi History Museum are directly accompanied by the staff inside the museum to explain the entire process.
Is direct use of museum and exhibition resources suspected of infringement?
According to legal professionals, according to the Cultural Relics Law, cultural relics belong to the state, and museums are institutions for preservation and research. Except for a very small number of contemporary artworks, almost all cultural relics in museums have exceeded the copyright protection period and entered the public domain. However, cultural relics photos taken by museums and cultural and creative products developed through secondary creation will be protected by laws such as the Copyright Law.
This means that the use of self captured cultural relics photos, videos, etc. in online explanatory videos is not illegal, but the use of museum introduction texts and explanations with filming staff are suspected of infringement.
Despite relevant laws and regulations, online explanations are still full of controversy. Taking "How to Appreciate" as an example, the creator reorganized the structure of the exhibition, such as comparing and explaining the paintings with the theme of "Our Lady" in the exhibition; Or when explaining the Impressionist paintings on display, use famous paintings such as Vermeer's "The Maid Pouring Milk" that have not been exhibited to explain the continuation and differences between Impressionism and previous works. "Many online explanations are based on exhibition thinking and development, not just for the purpose of explanation." Some workers engaged in art popularization and education online say that art history and works are public and cannot be patented as an exhibition.
Online explanation video for the National Gallery of Fine Arts exhibition in the UK, comparing and explaining the works exhibited in different sections together
However, in the eyes of some curators, a special exhibition requires a lot of effort and effort, which is a summary and presentation of academic research, in line with the elements of "originality" and "intellectual achievements" referred to in the law. Mr. Zhai, who is engaged in curation work, stated that although some online explanations may seem to integrate his own thinking and refer to other materials, their framework is still consistent with the curation ideas. "For example, the video of the online explanation of the 'Empirical China' exhibition still focuses on the four major sections of ancient China, rice cultivation, handicrafts, and jade, and the theme is also to reflect and discuss the definition of civilization, which is the overall picture of the exhibition."
Looking forward to more authoritative and abundant online resources
According to industry insiders, several museums have recently issued regulations stating that "no explanation activities can be conducted inside the museum without the permission of the museum owner." This is mainly due to two considerations: firstly, concerns about disrupting the order of visitors inside the museum; The second concern is about the uneven quality of the explanations and the spread of incorrect knowledge and concepts.
Online explanations avoid the first issue, but concerns about the quality of explanations still exist. In the eyes of cultural and museum enthusiasts such as Lv Rong, the key is that the audience's thirst for knowledge and personalized needs for museum exhibitions still cannot be met. "For example, can the language style be more lively while ensuring no joking or speaking recklessly? Can one have their own opinions on inconclusive issues?"
In fact, many online explanations directly use the museum's explanation resources. The reporter found that some explanatory videos heavily used resources recorded during the "cloud tour" of major museums during the closure of museums during the epidemic period. The video of Bai Xuesong, a lecturer at the Xi'an Beilin Museum, who went viral by describing cultural relics as a "talk show," was simply "packaged.". Ms. Du, who has experienced teaching services with her children in multiple museums during the summer vacation, said that although many museums also have online lectures and video tour resources, compared to the videos recorded by the instructors in other occasions, they appear too formal. "We should fully utilize the personality and charm of the instructors."
Mr. You, on the other hand, is unsatisfied with the fact that some museums are currently focusing on exhibitions and neglecting them: "If an exhibit tells the story of a flower, it is only one exhibit. The key is the story behind these exhibits." He found that although some online explanatory videos are based on the same opinion and the commentators are not authoritative, they can jump out of the exhibition and use various materials such as animations and illustrations to give people a deeper understanding of the historical background and the significance of the exhibition. He suggested that although curators may not always be on site to guide, museums can invite curators to record videos explaining curatorial ideas and download them on official websites for viewing.
Below a video explaining the Shaanxi History Museum, the commentator replied that they still emphasized the need to be present at the scene
However, the reporter found that although some commentators have set up accounts on social media, they rarely post explanatory videos, and more are short videos of academic discussions and cultural relics introductions. A netizen commented on a third-party video explaining Shaanxi History Museum, "Opening this video at the museum while watching and listening, the effect is even better than a real person's explanation." The commentator in the video replied, "This is impossible, definitely not as good as what I told you."
"Compared to providing online resources, we prefer viewers to enter museums." Ms. Liu, a volunteer who has worked in museums for 4 years as a lecturer, was pleased to see the museum research and learning boom that has emerged this summer. "I believe there will be solutions to the problem, but first of all, everyone is willing to enter museums."
