Day 2: Dome-nation Of Your Senses

We made our way to FullDome.pro , which was a company that produces dome-shaped screens aimed at creating immersive experiences through digitally rendered art and visuals. The concept is similar to the OMNI theatre series in Singapore’s Science Centre. We also learnt from one of our professors that this technology could also possibly be used to reinvent the way how information or media is stored.

However, could this technology really be the best possible way to store and portray cultural information effectively to others? Although the Full Dome is a wonderful technology that engages us through an immersive visual experience, it still cannot fully substitute the actual preservation of heritage sites. The reason is simply because one cannot selectively choose to preserve a piece of artifact and claim that the entire knowledge is retained.

In fact, such knowledge comprises of a network of information and data, that can only be known by observing the relationship between each and every artifact in a given space. This made a lot of sense to me, and it was a revelation I did not expect to receive. What the professors said made me reflect about the ways how Singapore has been preserving its culture through museums and other visual techniques, and question their value and feasibility.

After which, we went on to visit the Wat Gate Khar Rnam Museum where we would find a very affable Uncle Hope. He shared with us his knowledge about the history of the museum and the artifacts that he has collected. It was a collective effort from the people from all over the local Chiang Mai community.

 

 

We also discovered that the temple actually did not receive much assistance from the Government in their efforts in maintaining the facilities. This was quite ironical as the Government has been actively leveraging on tourism to help drive economy, but yet it is not supplying funds to support the cause.

It also came to our attention that two of the CMU students attached, are actually part of the team that is trying their very best to push for the Creative Chiang Mai project, in collaboration with UNESCO. They are actually still at an infancy stage where they are still trying to fortify culture and heritage preservation Chiang Mai. Only when they feel that such efforts are concrete will they focus on the next step of incorporating heritage and culture into attracting businesses and investments into Chiang Mai. I am very keen to find out how they would approach this such that it is sustainable in the long run, and perhaps incorporate it into Singapore someday as well.