London’s Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) is now the first overseas museum to join China’s leading video sharing mobile platform Kuaishou.
The V&A launched its official Kuaishou account on August 25. The live streaming service has more than 170 million daily active users.
Before the outbreak of COVID-19, the V&A welcomed nearly 4.5 million annual visitors. Its collection boasts more than 2.3 million objects across 5,000 years of human history.
Making its debut on Kuaishou, the V&A offered a virtual gallery tour for Chinese users, who are unable to travel abroad due to the coronavirus crisis.
“The coronavirus blocks physical communications between people from China and other countries but cannot cut the connection and emotion bonding between peoples and cultures,” said Yi Xuan, senior director of regional cooperation at Kuaishou.
“Artistic-cultural heritages are borderless,” added Yi.
“As the leading short video platform in China, Kuaishou is continuously striving its best to introduce the international cultural-artistic contents via social media in China, enabling users to have a better understanding of the world without leaving home.”
V&A offered virtual tour for Chinese users
https://www.instagram.com/p/CDinIhPgwtF/
The tour, which attracted 3.8 million people and got 166,000 likes, was guided by Xiao Lang, social media consultant at the V&A, and Li Xiaoxin, curator of the V&A’s Asian department.
Nick Marchand, head of international programmes at the V&A, said. “With the V&A’s reopening, we’re thrilled to welcome audiences back.
“But not everyone can travel right now, to see them. Thankfully, Kuaishou provides an invisible thread to connect us.
“While our worlds seem a little smaller right now, the V&A will transport you across time and geography. Step behind the doors of the museum with us, and get close to the extraordinary.”
This year, the National Museum of China rolled out a series of cultural events on Kuaishou, including a video campaign offering users a chance to experience the museum.
One of the short videos, which exhibited a 1,500-year-old Celadon lotus-shape Zun from ancient China, had 2.5 million views and more than 44,000 likes.
Meanwhile, V&A Dundee is working to decolonise its galleries, while V&A East director Gus Casely-Hayford opened up about diversity and the local community.
