ICHCAP

ICHCAP hosted the Curators’ Meeting for the 2017 ICHCAP ICH Online Exhibition from 24 to 25 July in Songdo, Incheon. ICHCAP signed a partnership with Google last year and has since showcased various Asia-Pacific ICH to people all around the world through Google Arts & Culture, an online exhibition platform provided by Google. Last year, three exhibitions on Pacific ICH were displayed.

This year, ICHCAP is planning to offer exhibitions that well reflect cultural diversity of South Asia with ICH experts from five South Asian countries (Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Maldives, and Sri Lanka) participating as curators. The recent Curators’ Meeting was organized to help the curators understand the online exhibition project better before it starts in earnest.

On 24 July, the first day of the meeting, presentations were given by Ms. Neerana Shakya, Information and Knowledge Management Assistant for the UNESCO Office in Kathmandu, Ms. Boyoung Cha, Chief of the Cooperation and Networking Section of ICHCAP, and the curators from the five countries. Ms. Shakya introduced UNESCO’s ICH safeguarding activities in the context of South Asia and encouraged the curators to plan exhibitions by keeping in mind the spirit of the 2003 Convention and the global initiative of sustainable development. Ms. Cha explained the background and objectives of the online ICH exhibition project and highlighted the importance of reflecting the voices of ICH practitioners, bearer, and communities in exhibitions. The curators then explained the themes of the exhibitions they are preparing for and discussed plans together.

On 25 July, Ms. Yoon Kyung Kim, program manager of Google Korea for Google Arts & Culture, gave an overall explanation of the program and explained how to use the exhibition platform. The curators had a chance to learn how to use the platform through practice. The meeting wrapped up after a technical Q&A session on the planning of novel exhibitions.

Based on the Curators’ Meeting, the South Asian ICH online exhibition will reveal its outcome by the end of this year. The online exhibition project is expected to significantly increase the visibility of Asia-Pacific ICH and help build a close network among archival institutions. By using the online platform that is easily accessible to the young population of this generation, the project will hopefully encourage people of different generations over the world to better enjoy ICH.