Encounter Dunhuang: A Digital Realm Under the Dome

Description

Encounter Dunhuang: A Digital Realm Under the Dome explores new ways of presenting Dunhuang’s cultural heritage through immersive media. The project reinterprets the murals of the Mogao Caves as a 360-degree animated experience designed for dome projection, shifting them from static images to spatial narratives. Over ten weeks, students will collaboratively produce a five-minute fulldome animation. The project combines established animation practices with emerging AI techniques to support asset creation, environmental design, and visual effects, while maintaining strong artistic direction. Students will analyse mural composition, iconography, and storytelling traditions, and translate these into a navigable visual experience. The dome environment allows audiences to engage with the content spatially, rather than through a fixed frame. The project aims to develop a practical model for digital heritage storytelling, demonstrating how AI can support creative production without replacing human authorship, and how immersive media can deepen public engagement with cultural history.

Period	18 Jun 2026 → 28 Aug 2026
Degree of Recognition	National