Museums in the Post-pandemic Era

by Zhang Ran

The pandemic has had a profound impact on museums around the world. A report jointly issued by UNESCO and the International Council of Museums showed that due to the COVID-19 outbreak， about 85，000 museums closed， 90 percent of the global total， and about 13 percent of museums worldwide will likely never reopen. Museums and art institutions have spearheaded various online exhibitions and explored methods of persisting in their endeavors. Development of technology and the arrival of the information era are helping museums seamlessly integrate online and offline display channels at an opportune time.

As early as 2011， the Google Art Project was launched， heralding the arrival of the era of virtual museums. So far， the project has attracted cooperation from more than 1，000 cultural organizations in dozens of countries. The project benefits art lovers by enabling them to enjoy and share art online while inspiring art experts， especially museum curators， to trailblaze personalized online museum experiences.

Today Art Museum is a good example. In the first half of 2020， the museum invited artists and designers to deliver free live streamed lectures for 10 days in row and launched an audio program called “Today Broadcast.” The museum also worked together with internet platforms such as Tmall， Douyin （Chinese version of TikTok）， and Tencent to spread the influence of art.

As new technology facilitates new experiences in reading and acquiring information， artists are pondering how to express themselves and communicate with patrons through new media. In 2015， Today Art Museum launched the “Future Cloud Gallery” program， which has collected over 600 works from 200 artists exploring the usage of new media. It is still just a start. In an era featuring the internet of everything， discussions of art galleries and museums should not be confined to their future forms but should cover audience appeal， the educational function of museums， changes in methods of expression， and internet influence to foster strategic adjustment and business planning and guide the future development of museums.

Technology can provide new possibilities and channels for art galleries and museums to promote the influence of art. But most virtual museums and related projects still remain in beta testing with incomplete structures， and their advantages have yet to be fully leveraged. Whats more， problems concerning virtual copyrights and museums lacking a physical collection have yet to find effective solutions， so the development of virtual museums still has a long way to go.

In the post-pandemic era， museums need to prioritize physical exhibitions and audience experience and utilize online methods to break through spatial limits. Virtual museums and online exhibitions will become extensions of brick-and-mortar museums and trial usage of future museum space， which will inspire innovation related to the industrys new living environment in an internet-based and intelligent society. Breaking through old curating rules and display systems， interacting with the audience in new ways， and smoothing the shift between physical and virtual museums will finally be realized.

The future will not be easy， but difficulties will always be overcome. We need to gather the necessary energy for a bright future.