Cyberport | Cyberport X Contemporary Culture & Technology Museum Jointly Create Hong Kong's First Beijing Central Axis Immersive Interactive Exhibition

Description

Cyberport Arcade actively promotes the integration of art and technology, creating a cultural and creative landmark. Together with the Contemporary Culture & Technology Museum, which is operated by the Hong Kong Multimedia Design Association and dedicated to promoting Chinese culture through innovative technology, and in collaboration with MateZLab, Shanmenlai Bar, Guan Zhong and Zhi Yuan Wuzao (Beijing) and other top art and technology teams, we have launched Hong Kong's first Beijing central axis-themed immersive interactive exhibition, 'Etiquette Axis'. By combining digital technology with the historical culture, rituals, and architectural aesthetics of Beijing's central axis, and through the use of dynamic mesh projection, kinetic interaction, AI-generated art, and other techniques, we integrate art and technology, allowing traditional culture to flourish through interaction and fulfilling our mission of 'making culture younger'. From now until 18 August, Cyberport Arcade Shop 311 features multiple photo spots and interactive experience installations themed around Beijing's central axis, where everyone can become a 'digital artisan', personally 'rubbing' the caisson of the Hall of Supreme Harmony and 'measuring' the trajectory of the stars, embarking on a journey where traditional culture and modern technology converge, experiencing the historical significance and cultural value of Beijing's central axis in a new way, and exploring the historical development axis of Chinese civilization through engaging interactions.

Innovative Dialogue between Culture and Technology

The Beijing central axis runs through the north and south of the old city of Beijing. It was built in the 13th century and took shape in the 16th century. Since then, through continuous evolution and development, it has formed a 7.8-kilometer-long urban axis, the longest in the world today. It is also a classic representation of ancient Chinese urban planning and ritualistic thinking, known as the 'Symbol of Chinese Ritualism'. The UNESCO World Heritage application process took 12 years, and in July 2024, it successfully became one of the World Cultural Heritage sites, testifying to the concept of 'China as the center of the world'. The Beijing central axis heritage area covers 589 hectares, with a buffer zone of 4,542 hectares, encompassing 15 heritage sites. It is composed of five major categories of heritage: ancient royal palace and garden architecture, ancient royal sacrificial architecture, ancient urban management facilities, national rituals and public buildings, and central road remains. Its site selection, layout, urban form, and design embody the ideal model of the capital as recorded in the Zhou Li • Kao Gong Ji, showcasing the traditional Chinese dynastic system and urban planning, and bearing witness to the development and transformation of Beijing.

The 'Etiquette Axis' immersive interactive exhibition takes 'Empowering Culture with Technology, Innovating the Inheritance of Civilization' as its core concept, using digital technology and artistic creation to reinterpret the cultural essence of the central axis and allowing traditional rituals to flourish anew in the digital world. The exhibition hall is cleverly divided into two main experience areas: 'First Encounter' and 'Dialogue'. In the 'First Encounter' area, audiences will use dynamic mesh projection, kinetic interaction, and other means to personally 'walk' through the historical context of Beijing's central axis; while the 'Dialogue' area breaks away from the unidirectional exhibition model, using AI-generated art and other techniques to co-create with cultural codes, allowing tradition to flourish through interaction.

Exhibition Highlights

'Etiquette Axis' Exhibition - 'First Encounter' Area

Exhibit One: 'First Encounter with Beijing Central Axis'

Theme: 'Urban Center, Ruler's Etiquette'

Creative Team: MateZ Lab X Zhi Yuan Wuzao (Beijing)

A large-scale dynamic mesh projection installation combines the historical scenes of Beijing's central axis (Yongdingmen, Zhengyangmen, Forbidden City, Jingshan, and the Bell and Drum Towers) with illustrations, animated projections, and AI-generated sound effects, recreating the 'centrally symmetric' imperial capital planning and conveying the spatial metaphor of Confucian ritualistic thought. The 'central axis' is not just a layout of buildings, but also a concretization of political power and a cosmological view. The audience will be immersed in history, experiencing the cultural essence of the central axis.

Exhibit Two: 'Twenty-Four Solar Terms, Floral Etiquette'

Theme: 'Light and Shadow of the Solar Terms, Sustainable Symbiosis'

Creative Team: MateZ Lab X Gongmen Neiwai (Twenty-Four Solar Terms-themed Post Office)

'The solar terms are love letters written by our ancestors to the earth' - This exhibit uses ultra-high transparency LED screens to interpret the natural beauty of the solar terms and integrates digital art to create an immersive photo spot. The audience can 'step into' the twenty-four solar terms, feeling the ancients' reverence and cherishing of nature and re-examining the significance of natural rhythms in modern life.

Exhibit Three: '3D Central Axis, Digital City Veins'

Theme: 'Light and Shadow Traversing Time, Discovering the Grand and Charming Central Axis'

Creative Team: Shanmenlai Bar X Guan Zhong

This exhibit takes 'One Axis, Three Universes' as its theme, using light and shadow to narrate the connection between the central axis and contemporary cultural life. The work is divided into three chapters - 'Urban Philosophy', 'Urban Architecture', and 'Urban Texture' - presented in an immersive light and shadow digital interactive form, allowing the audience to explore the cultural connotations of the central axis:

Chapter One: Urban Philosophy - Celestial Reflection

In the Beijing city illuminated by mythical legends, the creative inspiration corresponds to modern cosmic theory and astronomical knowledge, narrating the starry knowledge in traditional culture, the imagination of the Four Symbols and Twenty-Eight Mansions, the relationship between the Four Symbols and the five-color soil of the Sheji Altar, the contemplation of the stars and the division of the fields, the reverence for nature, and the contemplation of the power of heaven and earth.

Chapter Two: Urban Architecture - Central Axis Aura

The digital experience interprets the central axis architecture in a trendy national manga style, offering a rich visual experience. The audience will step by step walk through important scenes on the central axis, learning interesting knowledge related to the sites and establishing an emotional connection with the architecture.

Chapter Three: Urban Texture - Ancient Capital Feel

Using digital techniques to deconstruct the subtle beauty of Beijing's central axis architecture, this exhibit employs immersive interaction to bring the caisson's vaulted universe, the mineral radiance of paintings, and the ink traces of rubbing inscriptions to life, turning them into tangible cultural memories. The audience will become artisans of the digital age, measuring the geometric codes of the caisson with their footsteps and composing the color spectrum of millennia in the interplay of reality and virtuality.

'Etiquette Axis' Exhibition - 'Dialogue' Area

Exhibit Four: 'Kinetic Central Axis, Textural Mirror Image'

Theme: 'Exploring the Architectural Codes of the Central Axis with the Body'

Creative Team: MateZ Lab

'Every movement is a new interpretation of the central axis' - Transforming architectural knowledge into body language, this exhibit allows the audience to understand that 'the greatness of the central axis originates from the minuscule gradations of countless artisans' bodies' through dance. By making gestures, the audience activates the architectural codes of the central axis - extending their arms to generate caisson patterns, with radar precisely capturing the dynamics and transforming bodily curves into architectural curves, haptic devices providing artisanship tactile feedback, and ultimately generating a personal 'architectural body report', experiencing the wisdom of 'the human body as a measuring tool' through dance.

Exhibit Five: 'Door God Blessings'

Theme: 'Contemporary Dialogue with Traditional Beliefs'

Creative Team: Shanmenlai Bar

Digitizing Beijing's local culture, this exhibit transforms traditional blessing rituals into engaging interactive experiences, allowing the audience to feel cultural inheritance through technological interaction. By revitalizing historical artifacts and innovatively forming digital door god images, integrating blessing culture elements into lottery poems, and using traditional instruments to play interactive sound effects, a contemporary dialogue with traditional beliefs is created.

Exhibit Six: 'AI Beijing Central Axis'

Theme: 'Digital Context, Central Axis Renewal'

Creative Team: MateZ Lab

Using artificial intelligence to deconstruct the architectural codes of millennia, this exhibit employs large models to generate high-precision painted works, with AI not only recreating traditional crafts but also infusing them with contemporary creative interpretations. The creative team uses technology as ink, reinterpreting the 'centralized and harmonious' Eastern construction philosophy, allowing ancient architecture to bloom anew between reality and virtuality.

Immersive Photo Spots, Technological Interactions: Exploring the Central Axis

The 'Etiquette Axis' exhibition features carefully designed diverse experience spaces, including culturally profound exhibit photo spots and innovative technological interactive device experience areas. The audience can not only appreciate the digitally recreated architectural art of the central axis up close but also, through AI kinetic technology, become 'modern artisans', personally participating in cultural inheritance in the fusion of reality and virtuality. The venue also features multiple immersive photo spots, presenting iconic landscapes from Yongdingmen to the Bell and Drum Towers, complemented by light and shadow special effects to create the perfect photography scenes. Smart interactive elements are also incorporated, allowing each visitor to create unique exhibition memories.

'Etiquette Axis' Exhibition Interactive Experience Installations

'3D Central Axis, Digital City Veins'

Chapter One

Urban Philosophy - Celestial Reflection

The audience becomes 'descendants of the Qingtianguan', standing on the central armillary sphere device, stepping on the Azure Dragon/White Tiger/Vermilion Bird/Black Tortoise quadrants, triggering holographic projections, and suddenly, the eastern to northern skies of Beijing appear at their feet, along with the patterns of the Twenty-Eight Mansions.

Chapter Two

Urban Architecture - Central Axis Aura

Walking on the central axis abridged schematic projected on the ground is like participating in a 'hopscotch' game! Each step forward triggers new architectural trivia and dynamic weather displays on the wall, providing an educational and entertaining visual experience.

Chapter Three

Urban Texture - Ancient Capital Feel

The exhibition area utilizes the exquisite caisson designs of the Hall of Supreme Harmony in the Forbidden City, the Q千秋亭hinnan Pavilion in the Imperial Garden, and the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests in the Temple of Heaven, bringing traditional details to life through digitalization! When stepping on the ground patterns, the space instantly transforms, revealing the caisson and painted patterns of central axis architecture, as if transported to ancient buildings from millennia ago, with each step full of surprises!

'Kinetic Central Axis, Textural Mirror Image'

The audience only needs to stand in the sensing area to instantly become a 'part of the architecture'! Their body contours will be transformed into the textures of central axis buildings, allowing for a zero-distance interaction with traditional culture. Full-body movements can trigger different surprising effects - gently rotating the body, the wall instantly transforms with the flowing cloud patterns of the 'Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests'; squatting and standing activates the reorganization of the 'Imperial Garden floor' geometric patterns! Every movement can trigger marvelous changes in architectural textures, as if designing the central axis buildings with the body, providing endless fun!

'Door God Blessings'

Stand in the designated area and face the majestic door gods, ready to begin an immersive interactive fortune-telling experience! Simply raise your right hand and gently wave a few times, and once the motion is captured by the sensor, a 'digital fortune slip' will randomly appear on the screen. What kind of blessing will you receive?

'AI Beijing Central Axis'

The audience can become 'digital artisans', selecting distinctive ancient architectural textures according to their preferences and combining them with beautiful Beijing central axis architectural illustrations to create exquisite painted works using AI.

Free Admission, Exploring the Charm of the Central Axis

The 'Etiquette Axis' exhibition is free and open to the public, with multiple photo spots and interactive game areas related to the central axis within the Cyberport Arcade. Please make a reservation before your visit.

Reservation Website: www.hkmmda.org/amcct