New Media Display Technology and Exhibition Experience A Case Study from the National Palace Museum

As the inheritor of Chinese civilization, the National Palace Museum (hereafter referred to as the NPM), houses a world-class collection of cultural art and artifacts. Since the NPM began promoting the National Digital Archives Project in 2002, its efforts have expanded to develop a digital museum and various e-learning programs. Extending the use of digital archives to its educational and cultural industrial endeavors, the NPM has maximized the value of its exhibitions, publications, and educational programs. In 2013, the NPM integrated creative thinking and interdisciplinary technologies, such as floating projection, augmented reality, and other sensory interactive media, to recreate the historical circumstance of 19th century East Asian maritime cultures in Rebuilding the Tong-an Ships—New Media Art Exhibition, which opened at Huashan 1914 Creative Park and later won the Gold Award at the 2014 Digital Education Innovation Competition. Through a thorough exploration of the factors contributing to the success of Rebuilding the Tong-an Ships, this study has isolated the two main factors of the exhibition’s popularity, namely, the compactness of the metadata and the atmosphere created by the interactive display technology.