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The future of Tangible Cultural Heritage

  • Writer: Angela Huang
    Angela Huang
  • Sep 8, 2020
  • 7 min read

INTRODUCTION

For this project we were tasked to do a in depth research on a topic of our choice to formulate an insight for the future. For domain I choose Tangible Cultural Heritage of New Zealand because it is closer and easier to obtain relevant information.


There are many things that are improving has technology advances however more and more unique qualities of culture are lost throughout the years. We are trying really hard to preserve what used to be part of our ancestor’s identity. I am curious what others think technology has played in the decline and what has motivated them to peruse in a career relevant to culture.

INITIAL RESEARCH

In order to have a better view of the future I researched about the past up still now and because there are so many aspects to tangible cultural heritage I narrowed down to specific practices such as carving and weaving. The timeline below is a little summary for the history of Carving, the history of weaving also showed very similar trends.

Before 1500

Many of the carving pieces before the 1500’s are lost because they lack the skill to preserve the wood, however some pieces of work that are made from animal bones were discovered. Many of the styles reflect the state of the Maori community and others take on the characteristic of the Eastern Polynesian culture.

1500-1800

Spirals and curved patterns are more commonly used to symbolise the floras found in New Zealand. Captain Cook’s crew observed large structures for housing in the middle of carving but there wasn’t any fully carved architecture at that time, so it was believed that the concept of meeting house was created at around the 1800’s.

1800-1900

Experienced colonization and is going through musket war, the carving traditions went through a downturn as many carved houses and canoes are being destroyed. The treaty of Waitangi was also signed in this period which means there were many European settlers. They built many houses very rapidly giving little time for native Maori to perform their crafts. Painted houses became the trend ‘Such houses were described by traditionalists such as Ngata as a ‘degeneration’ of the art of carving’. Better technology and tools were introduced to carvers in this period.

1900-2000

Native Maori began modifying their design to suite the taste of tourist because there was fewer practical needs for this skill, they need to rely on rich Pakeha. Many natives moved from rural to urban areas after World War II, at this point craftsmen went to school to get a degree in fine art which they were told that ‘Maori art had died with their ancestors’, ‘reviving so-called Maori arts is a dead loss … all they’re getting is a template of what was done before 1840, or worse, a template of the template that was created by the Ngata revival’


With these information I was able to formulate a insights, I categorized it into positive and negative because trends have shown that technology as more of a negative impact towards tangible cultural heritage as people are less connected with these artifacts however there is a chance that this phenomenon will improve in the future as it becomes more acknowledged.


Negative

1. Due to development and urbanisation the native Maori community will blend into the community, with the ease of technology it would be difficult for the new generation to pick up the crafts again.

2. Extinction of animals and plants due to human and natural factors leads to lack of natural resources and inspiration.

3. Technology couldn’t fully replace the creations of craftsmen, it’s also unable to create new unique designs.

4. Mass producing using technology would decrease the value to the art piece.

5. Native Maori loses connection with their culture.

Positive

1. In the future technology would be able to mimic crafts, preserving the skill and allowing future generations to learn.

2. People are more accepting towards new technology and are willing to share their crafts with the wider community.

3. People find ways which traditional practices can be adapted to be used in modern practices.

4. Through the development of genetic technologies new and possibly old species of plants and animals are created.

5. The concept of Modern traditional art arises which uses connection with the modern society to produce traditional styled works.

CONDUCTING INTERVIEWS

In order to get a better understanding of this domain I have reached out to many experts. These experts include people who are directly related such as employees at the Auckland museum, New Zealand intangible cultural heritage center, New Zealand archives etc. I also reached out to contemporary and traditional artist to get their view. Lecturers and students are also considered in my list.


I was really privileged to be able to interview two of them


Kirsty Nixon, New Zealand contemporary artist


Trevor Himona, Principal Advisor Maori Strategy and Services at the New Zealand Archives

INSIGHTS

For this phase we looked into some of the biggest components from the future which are automation and sustainability and how these are relevant to my domain. Created more insights that is related, some may overlap with my first set of insights.


Automation

Negative

1. Technology couldn’t fully replace the creations of craftsmen, it’s also unable to create new unique designs.

2. Mass producing using technology would decrease the value to the art piece.

3. Native Maori loses connection with the uniqueness of their culture.

Positive

4. In the future technology would be able to mimic crafts, preserving the skill and allowing future generations to learn.

5. Crafts can mass produce so not only the minority population can be benefited.

6. Artificial technology gradually replaces people in the workforce so people has more time and energy to produce creative arts that AI cannot complete.

7. Combination of human intelligence and artificial intelligence to increase productivity and variety of works.

Sustainability and Climate change

Negative

1. Extinction of animals and plants due to human and natural factors leads to lack of natural resources and inspiration.

2. Population growth increases demand for food which means increasing need of agricultural land

3. Development of transportation systems allows people to move around easier but urbanisation means it’s a further travel to get to rural areas which contributes to the release of greenhouse gases.

Positive

4. Through the development of genetic technologies new and possibly old species of plants and animals are created.

5. Human’s find ways to predict and prevent the happenings of natural disasters.

6. Urbanisation is a new form of inspiration and a new environment for artists to develop.

7. New renewable resources are created to replace old unrenewable, dangerous or even illegal materials.

NARROWING DOWN

1. In the future VR technology and motion sensors would be able to arcuately capture movements of human body to record the crafts and be used to educate the future generations.

2. Through enhancement of chemical science and genetic engineering renewable resources are created to replace old unrenewable, dangerous or even illegal materials.

3. Government and specialist will work collectively with the community to build a strong online database that acknowledges the diversity of tangible cultural heritage that everyone can connect with.


With these insights in mind I further researched precedence that backs up these insights and eventually decided that I wanted to move forward with insight number 3.


GlobalSim: This company has created a VR simulation which allows user that are learning how to control a crane to train with real controllers while not actually in a crane. The VR goggles is fully immersive and shows the user exactly what will happen if a button or switch is pressed, there are also sensors on the goggles which locates the hand of the user so they are able to see what they are doing. This method makes training a lot safer.


Rekrei: This is a project which is created to restore and preserve art that are damaged by man or by natural disasters in a digital 3D form. The technology involves taking photos of an object from different angles to create a 3D representation and these are then exported into the database of their online museum. These 3D models can also be 3D printed but currently it is very difficult to do 3D printing on a large scale and plastic cannot replicate the textures on the original sculpture very well.


Stretch sense: A NZ based company which created gloves with many in built sensors which can accurately capture movements every joint of the hand. Currently users can connect this glove to another program such as unity to visualize the movement digitally, they are working on in built in SD cards which can record the movement.


Motion capture: Motion capture is already a very popular technology that are used in film making. Gaming companies are also gradually incorporating this technology into the production of games increasing the sense of immersion and presence for the user. In order to perform motion capture in the past the actor must wear a specialised equipment which captures movement of the joints but it’s constantly evolving and becoming easier to perform.


Oil Paints: Oil paints very expensive, this is because of the difficulty to obtain the pigments required and takes a lot of effort to manufacture. There are colours such as mummy brown which literally uses the remains of Egyptian mummies to create, this colour was so in demand at the time that they ran out of mummies to use. Colours like Tyrian purple, ultramarine and Indian yellow all obtains pigment through very unsustainable and cruel methods which are now highly illegal.

CONCLUSION

For the first insight there are evidence which shows that it is possible to achieve however there aren't many signs that this will happen in the near future. Also after talking with the experts I have realized that preservation of artifacts isn't the main problem the world is facing, it is the loss of meaning behind these artifacts. The reason I didn't go for the second insight is because it is too obvious and even though there is still place for improvement, it isn't something that is unpredictable. I'm most passionate about the third insight because it really emphasizes the importance of people and the aid of technology, in my opinion the primary reason to keep these tangible cultural heritage is to benefit the people so the only way to resolve what we are facing now is to get the community more involved.

References:

1. Business Insider. (13 July 2019). Why Oil Paint Is So Expensive | So Expensive. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iib_imkZ5fk

2. GlobalSim. (2016). Simulators. https://www.globalsim.com/simulators/

3. Graham, B. (8 September 2020). 'Whakairo – Maori carving - Legendary origins of carving', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand. http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/whakairo-maori-carving/page-1

4. Rekrei. (2015). Rekrei: A Summary. https://rekrei.org/about

5. Romano, N. (14 July 2014). How’d They Do That? A Brief Visual History of Motion-Capture. https://screencrush.com/motion-capture-movies/

6. StretchSense. (2020). About us. https://stretchsense.com/




 
 
 

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