Digital art museum to go online

China Art Museum Shanghai will launch its online digital museum on Oct 1, the first anniversary of the museum's opening at the China Pavilion of World Expo 2010.

China Art Museum Shanghai will be the first of China's art museums to present 360-degree panoramic view on its website.

"You can virtually go from the entrance all the way to the exit, and visit all the exhibits in the museum without actually going there," said Shi Dawei, director of the museum.

"We are not having any ceremonies for the occasion, but are introducing more public service initiatives," Shi said. The museum wants to send the message that "it's not a playground for artists only, but a public service provider."

The museum presents high-resolution images of more than 7,000 pieces of artworks in its collection. "We've also taken measures to protect our legal right," said Li Sheng, Party chief of the museum. "You can view the image in very fine details on our website, but if you click 'save as', you can download only fragments of it."

All the exhibitions, past and present, are available on the digital museum online, he said. The museum had nearly 2 million visitors in the first year, and was the most popular exhibition venue of the former World Expo site.

Also part of the World Expo site, Power Station of Art is the first official museum of contemporary art in China.

Power Station of Art will celebrate its first anniversary with a series of events and performances that runs from 9 am to 9 pm on Oct 1, museum director Gong Yan said.