BANGKOK, Dec. 15, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The newly revamped Museum Siam is hosting its new permanent exhibition, Decoding Thainess, which features 14 exhibition zones that leads to exploring all aspects of Thainess and its constant evolution from the past to present. Encompassing historical, architectural, traditional, culinary and clothing perspectives among others, the exhibition is impressively presented by using advanced technology and unconventional storytelling method that suit today's needs of people and their media consumption behaviors. It also encourages visitors to think further and concentrates on making more active interactions with visitors in order that they can enjoy and be amazed by the whole spectrum from the beginning to the end of the exhibition.
According to Rames Promyen, Director General of National Discovery Museum Institute (NDMI), also known as Museum Siam, the previous permanent exhibition was closed since early 2016 before starting to develop the new exhibition entitled Decoding Thainess which took more than 18 months to complete. He said, "The statistics including the demographic data of visitors as well as their opinions and research studies on media consumption behaviors have been incorporated into the way we develop exhibition contents and design patterns of communication within the museum to better meet the needs of younger generations. We believe Decoding Thainess, which is wholly developed by a dedicated team of Thai exhibition curators and designers, will change the public perception of boring and monotonous museum visits while providing everyone with more interesting sources of knowledge and joyful experience. We are also certain that this exhibition will become a popular museum destination local and international visitors can't miss."
"The exhibition explores the true meaning of Thainess through advanced and more interesting storytelling techniques in diverse aspects including history, architecture, custom and tradition, culinary and clothing for instance. It also illustrates the evolution of being Thai in social contexts from the early Rattanakosin period to the present by telling stories about the development of Thainess through the use of familiar and sophisticated museum presentation techniques available today, thus encouraging visitors to think further ahead by capturing stories of the past. Innovative patterns of presentation that enhance interactions with visitors also allow them to immerse themselves to the exhibition and better understand the contents of the exhibition. This provides them with an unconventional museum experience that gives both knowledge and enjoyment," said Rames.
Amenities at Museum Siam such as exhibition space, elevators and lavatories have also been improved and refurbished to serve more visitors. The audio guide system is now available in 5 languages including Thai, English, German, Chinese and Japanese, and has some useful features to assist visual impaired persons and foreign visitors. The exhibition is also designed to serve people with disabilities with user-friendly elevators. In addition to exhibition space, inside Museum Siam houses a souvenir shop (MUSE SHOP) as well as food and coffee corners (MUSE KITCHEN and MUSE CAFE), which has been fully operational.
"Museum Siam expects to welcome more than 30,000 visitors by the end of 2017 and more than 500,000 visitors in 2018," concluded Rames.
"With limitations of organizing and designing exhibitions, especially in terms of content and technology which have become outdated and changing media consumption behaviors, our main challenge in creating the new exhibition for Museum Siam is to deliver more sophisticated exhibition contents and make sure these meet the needs of visitors," said Poraminthra Krouethong, an adviser of National Discovery Museum Institute (Museum Siam) who also led the exhibition's development team. "From this outset, we have developed a new permanent exhibition, Decoding Thainess, with contents that have been adapted to be in line with today's social context. We can remove some parts of the contents and add interesting ones, which allow visitors to find new stories and exhibits every time they visit the exhibition. Besides, we are able to adjust presentation techniques to suit today's environment in which people have less time for reading. For this reason, we have shifted from written presentations and exhibition boards to other forms such as visual presentations, games, augmented reality, 3D laser cut and hydraulic modules (for the first time in Thailand).
He continued, "The Decoding Thainess exhibition is different from others. It has been designed to be unique in terms of content development and storytelling through the use of modern museum media we are familiar with and can be commonly seen today. It inspires visitors to think further and connect themselves with the past. Interactive presentations at the exhibition also encourage visitors' deeper immersion in activities and as a result create better understanding as well as an unusual museum experience with a perfect combination of knowledge sharing and fun."
The Decoding Thainess exhibition features 14 exhibition rooms:
The Decoding Thainess exhibition now opens to the public on Tuesday - Sunday (closed on Monday), 10 A.M. - 6 P.M., at Museum Siam, Tha Tien, Bangkok. All asset including related document and photos of this exhibition can be reached via https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1ZVSrF8KJdmcxfqpIkL0WWT0DjM56U3uK?usp=sharing
For more information, please contact +662-225-2777 or visit www.museumsiam.org. For group visits (from organizations, schools or educational institutes), contact +662-225-2777 ext. 411.
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