Museum shows its true colors

A resonating space

Putting this exhibition in the Oriental Metropolitan Museum is not the result of coincidence.

The museum focuses on history between the 3rd to 6th centuries when Nanjing was the capital of six dynasties that ruled the southern part of China and rose as a metropolitan city with a powerful influence. Nanjing is thus often dubbed as the "ancient capital of six dynasties". The museum regularly displays 1,200 related relics, among which celadon is a pillar of its inventory.

"People then had a tendency to admire the color of cyan," Zhang Lei says. "It shows a pursuit for harmony between humans and nature."

She further explains: "While North China was shaken by continuous wars, a large group of literati were exiled to the south. The unstable social environment made them listen to their 'inner world' more often and highlighted the importance of individual feelings and psychological relief."

As the exhibition shows, forests, plants and natural landscapes, which were used as backdrops or adornments in paintings, became main features in artworks during this nature-worshipping era. Blue-and-green landscape paintings later became a key genre in traditional Chinese art.

Naturally, cyan, reminding visitors of the Six Dynasties period, can easily resonate with modern urban dwellers who also look for inner peace amid their fast-paced life, Zhang Lei points out.

Tan from Art Exhibitions China sees the exhibition as a chance to explore an alternative combining resources of middle- and small-sized museums.

"Compared with those large museums, many such smaller venues are less noticed, but they are deeply rooted in local cultures and closer to people's daily life," he says.

"Presentations of their collections in thematic design can thus provide better cultural service."

According to Song Yan, deputy director of the Nanjing Museum Administration, about 60 percent of visitors to the Oriental Metropolitan Museum are aged between 10 and 35.

"That means, as operators of modern museums, we have to approach history in a fresh and comfortable way," says Song, also a deputy to the 14th National People's Congress.

"After a few years of experiencing the booming scenario of Chinese museums, today's visitors have well-nurtured taste. They will not be satisfied with just checking out a new museum and seeing treasures. They seek a deeper understanding through immersive experiences to feel the cultural ethos of the past times.

"This process is essential for art education for the public," she says. "In this way, people can also fall in love with history and breed closer emotional ties with the city they live in."

Song has long promoted her idea of ushering museums into people's regular lifestyles by building a "museum without boundaries".

In the Oriental Metropolitan Museum, people pass through bamboo groves in the galleries. They also stop in front of the huge French window on the third floor to appreciate the soothing summertime scene: The verdant city skyline of Nanjing spreads toward the horizon. Boundaries of time and space seem to blur at that moment.

By the exit of the cyan-themed exhibition, a wall is full of comments left by visitors. Many of them cite famous poems on color throughout history, but some people write their own.

"Mystic shade of cyan, elusive yet alluring," a visitor writes. "It's refreshing, and makes me approach."

Probably, for the exhibition curators admiring the color of life, this "growing" wall is the fruit they harvest.