To mark the 40th
anniversary of diplomatic relations between the United States and
China, the Peabody Essex Museum (PEM), the Smithsonian's Freer Sackler
Galleries, and the Palace Museum in Beijing teamed up to organize a
traveling exhibition showcasing nearly 200 precious artifacts from the
Palace Museum. The exhibition explores the role of the empresses in
shaping the art, religion, and politics of China's last dynasty–the
Qing dynasty.
Because
such great care is taken to preserve the intricate and delicate
imperial gowns, they are kept on a rotating display, which means that
guests are unable to experience all of the gowns during their visit. PEM
reached out to Balance to craft an interactive experience that not only
gives visitors access to all the robes in the collection, but allows
them to dive deeper into the meaning and significance of the artifacts.
The
application provides users with a tutorial on common Chinese symbols
found on the robes, as well what the color, cut, and style meant to both
the empress and her audience. Each section combines text and images to
provide a richer and more meaningful understanding. Visitors can then
utilize a magnifying glass on the photo-real, 3D model to examine the
robes more closely–down to thread detail.
After
learning about the common symbolism, users can even design their own
robe to tell their own story in the way used on the imperial robes. A
photo-real, 3D model appears on screen and allows the user to turn and
zoom in on the model in a hands-on exploration of the robes, changing
the colors and adding symbols. Once the symbols have been selected,
visitors can reset and begin the process again or send their creation
via email.
A
web-based custom content management system was also created to provide
museum administration the ability to view, export data, and remove images from
the system.