Blending Digital Learning & Heritage. For Better Cultural Insights

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1 Blending Digital Learning & Heritage For Better Cultural Insights Colloquium Paper Nivedita Parihar FC-7 21 November 2016 A bridge between the real world and the virtual world. This paper aims at understanding crafts, craft tours and the new age media technology called virtual reality. The aim is to promote craft, through the new concepts of craft tours and the possibilities of Virtual Reality in the craft sector. India is home to innumerable crafts, ranging from the northern most corners of the country to the far south reach, each with its unique beauty, history and value. This paper elaborates how the craft tours allows us to explore these intrinsic crafts. Furthermore, there is an exploration of the potential areas and effect of Virtual Reality on tourism and its scope in promoting the craft tours. To see the possibility if there could be a potential of having a craft tour for something that does not exists? If there will be more value to the unexplored than for what already exists.

2 Also to understand the limitations and threats to the potential of VR in craft sector. What potential growth is it offering for the promotions of crafts in India, and what difference is Virtual reality eventually making to the real time craft tours. CRAFTS: With an unending collection of arts and crafts, India has the richest history of cultural heritage with a unique ability to integrate, remake and reshape the new ideas while retaining the core essence of our traditions and culture. Indian crafts represents a unique ethos and aesthetic influence right through thousands of years. The earliest specimens of Indian arts and crafts go back 4500 years to Indus Valley Civilisation or Harappan Culture. To this day, each of the article made by every single artisan adds to the countless articles made by hands throughout the country on a daily basis. For the artisans, the cult of excellence comes from an impulse, which lies at the heart of craftsmanship. It is this impulse which has through history led to the continuation of the great traditions of craftsmanship and the rich storehouse of knowledge and skill. Thus, these artisans have been admired throughout centuries for bringing a fusion of trend and tradition, with the amalgamation of legacy and developing art forms. Made in India - a phrase being used for selling various art pieces ranging from the handcarved wooden beds sold at the luxury home boutique down the road, to the inexpensive brass articles sold at the local street market. The traditional common thread that binds these objects together is the remarkable ability of craftspeople in India to combine beauty with utility, and a unique and long-held appreciation of the role of the craftsperson in Indian society. It is hard even for a person who is not much of an enthusiast for arts and handicrafts, not to appreciate the skills and inspiration required to craft the myriad of objects made by hand every day throughout India. These articles, to one s maker, are objects of personal artistic expressions and a sources of livelihood bringing to them a sense of national pride, identity, heritage and belonging. To consumers, these objects are marks of refined taste, objects of daily household chores, souvenirs as a reminder of religious pilgrimage or pleasure trips, or merely a visual beauty upon which to gaze in wonder. An article of exquisite material culture. CRAFT TOURS: One such initiative for appreciating and recognising the existence of these crafts, and for creating the most appropriate platform for the introduction of the unmatched craftsmanship of the region are these Craft Tours, serving as a source of inspiration for the curious and a journey into

3 their intricacies for the connoisseur. These tours are custom designed that satisfies a persons particular needs and interests and it takes the person to the rural India where arts and crafts exist in their original form. Today, various crafts and artisans are now being promoted through various craft tours that are being conducted across the country by the government, Craft Council Of India and various private organisations like Matsya, Jaypore, Breakaway and more. Craft tours are the largest and most successful concept that has evolved over the years that is helping as a huge platform in promotion of the craftsmen and the craft itself and creating an experience for crafters in the world. It allows the curious, the enthusiasts to have an individual interaction with the artists, artisans, craftsmen and weavers who will share their skills and stories about their life and work. The map below represents the innumerable crafts spread across the country.

Various types of Craft Tours: Indian crafts are a riot of colour, textures and motifs, materials and mediums that changes with each region, village and community having its own distinct style and

4 Various types of Craft Tours: Indian crafts are a riot of colour, textures and motifs, materials and mediums that changes with each region, village and community having its own distinct style and history. The history, weather, geography and economic condition also have a great effect on the types of art and crafts found. The classification of various craft tours happens on the basis of certain guiding factors. These craft tours can be based on specific region, time, skill, material, or culture. These tours also ranges from short half day tours to extended tours for a week or month long with a specific focus on certain crafts depending what all regions and crafts the itinerary covers. For the artistically inclined, hands-on workshops also plays an important part of the experience. Some tours stick to one region, while other tours cover multiple regions. It's even possible to go on a handicraft buyer's tour, for those who are interested in importing fair trade items. For example, A Textile Trail in Kanchipuram by Breakaway takes you to the traditional looms to see how kanchipuram saree gets woven from raw materials sourced from all parts of the country, Bagru Block Printing Workshop, in Bagru, Rajasthan by Vedic Walks is a half a day tour with the bagru artists in their workshop, Painted Histories - Rajasthan by Breakaway, lets you peak into lesser known art forms, their creators and cultures - miniature art, Bundi style of painting, Kotah style, the Kishangarh style and so on. Acting as a methodology, an incentive, for the craft enthusiasts, there are several books that gives detailed information on the regional crafts and textiles of India. These books serves as a guiding factor for the foundation of planning a craft tour for those in search of additional information while planning a craft tour. For example, Handmade in India - A Geographic Encyclopaedia of Indian Handicrafts published by Abbeville Press (Editor: Aditi Ranjan & M.P.Ranjan), examines all aspects of Indian handicrafts-historical, social, and cultural influences on crafts, design and craft processes, traditional and new markets, products, and tools, that unravels a wealth of knowledge.

5 CRAFT ROUTES: India has numerous crafts ranging from the northern most corners of the country to the far south reach. These craft tours allows us to explore these places along with the intrinsic crafts. In the north the route covers Kashmir as the centre of carpet weaving; the technique for which was imported into the region from Persia prior to the Mughal era. Kashmir is also famous for the art of embroidery and the region is known worldwide for Pashmina shawls. Fine shawls, scarves of pashmina, Pahari miniature paintings are very popular crafts in the Kullu valley. In the state of Uttar Pradesh, while Varanasi produces world famous silks and brocades, Lucknow is famous for delicate embroidery work 'chikankari' done on light fabrics like cotton and organdie. A deftly woven silk or a cotton blended saree, block-printed fabrics, stuffed leather toys or floor coverings, folk paintings, bamboo, cane or jute work, woodcraft, stone-craft, iron-craft, metal-craft, terra-cotta, papier-mache, zari work (gold thread embroidery), ornaments, dolls, each hand-crafted product of Madhya Pradesh is charming enough to sweep you off your feet. Southern parts of India offers us the finest of silk to delicate carved sandalwood and rosewood figures to brassware and semi-precious stones. Tamil Nadu offers the splendid handloom silk and cotton fabrics, especially the silk sarees from Kanchipuram in vibrant colours. A range of finely crafted bronzes, brass lamps, wood and stone carvings and Thanjavur paintings and brass plates in copper and silver are other major attractions. Kerala specialises in bell metal, wood, cane, fibre and coconut-shell craft. Andhra Pradesh is known for Kalamkari hand painting with vegetable dyes. Hyderabad today, is the largest pearl centre of India where you can buy exquisite pearl jewellery. The arts and crafts of the east are more down-to-earth, epitomised by the terracotta and pottery handicrafts, folk bronzes and Kantha needlework of Bengal. The state of Orissa reflects its temple traditions with soapstone carvings of extraordinary intricacy, and appliqué work from the village of Pipli. Silver filigree work, stone and wood carvings, patta paintings, tie and dye textiles, brass and horn work are available at most of the places. A variety of mementoes are available in Assam like, muga silk, bell metal, cane work, woolen shawls. Arunachal Pradesh offers a variety of wood carvings, carpets and shawls. In Meghalaya, one can get good bargains for hand-woven shawls, handicrafts, orange flower honey and cane work. Mizoram offers a variety of traditional Mizo handicrafts and especially the bamboo hat that is made of waterproof wild Hnahthial leaves.

6 Gujarat produces beautiful, hand-woven tie-dyed textiles, popular chakla patchwork and glass wall hangings. Intricate embroidered garments include skirts, blouses, kurtas and jackets. The Rann of Kutch is renowned for its mirror work. Rajasthan excels in enamelling, lacquer and filigree work and block-printed silks and muslin. Mirror work is another art native to this area. Jaipur is famous for its blue pottery and semi precious stones, Jodhpur for antique styled furniture; and, Udaipur is well known for reproduction of old miniature paintings & housing the finest collections of Rajput miniature paintings. Udaipur is the venue of an yearly (December) Shilpgram Fair which is a living ethnographic museum depicting the enormous diversities in craft, art and culture of India. All these regions are home several stories, skills, history, and experiences depicting crafts in their traditional manner that cannot be reached by a wider audience easily. To make it acknowledged by a wider variety of audience and a large number of people, craft tours are playing a very important role. What s heartening to see are a variety of craft tours being organised by tourism organisations that follows various routes covering all these regions, which is promoting these artisans find new opportunities and outlets for selling what they make. Craft tours allows a person to explore the colours, people, stories and take home experiences that are illuminating, educational and fulfilling. Travellers are given the unique opportunity of interacting with artisans, watching them in the process and uncovering stories seldom found in books and travel magazines. The ones to gain from these tours are the artisans and the crafts will be more acknowledged among people, bringing back to life the old traditions and lost skills. The artisans gets to sell more of their products which provides them with a better identity and livelihood and at the same time crafts are being revived on a global scenario. Craft tours are like indulging in a rich, diverse cultural journey, complete with historical context, wrapped with local interactions and cuisine. An interactive immersive travel experience. These tours helps one look rather than see, listen rather than hear and quietly sculpt an unimaginable dimension of the crafts that one has never before felt connected to. The experience one will be getting will be one of the most immersive experience one can ever have in understanding the crafts and relating to the lives of a crafts person in one extraordinary way.

7 VIRTUAL REALITY: With the emergence on new age media applications like Virtual Reality, The immersive experience can now be taken to the next level. In technical terms, Virtual Reality means the computer-generated simulation of a threedimensional image or environment that can be interacted with, in a seemingly real or physical way by a person using special electronic equipment, such as a helmet with a screen inside or gloves fitted with sensors. In simple terms, Virtual Reality means near-reality. Virtual reality is the creation of a virtual environment presented to our senses in such a way that we experience it as if we were really there. It uses a host of technologies to achieve this goal and is a technically complex feat that has to account for our perception and cognition. Virtual reality is increasingly being adopted by marketers and documentary/filmmakers across the globe. Be it S.S. Rajamouli, Steven Spielberg, Facebook, Google, McDonald s, Airways (Etihad), Tata Motors (Automobile industry) or the tourism department of India, each has opted to either avail the technology or invested in actualising its potentiality, because of its unique potential to convincingly engage all sensory modalities. The Virtual Reality is not only a novelty but is also a practical evolution in marketing. Which brings us to the point how VR can play a major role in promoting the craft sector? CRAFT TOURS AND VR: Chris Milk in his Ted Talk quotes Talking about virtual reality is like dancing about architecture. And this is actually someone dancing about architecture in virtual reality. So, it's difficult to explain. Why is it difficult to explain? It's difficult because it's a very experiential medium. You feel your way inside of it. It's a machine, but inside of it, it feels like real life, it feels like truth. And you feel present in the world that you're inside and you feel present with the people that you're inside of it with. Virtual Reality is a new content marketing, and immersive technology offering amazing possibilities. The tourism industry is slowly adapting Virtual Reality in their promotions. I believe that virtual reality has two major uses in the Travel Industry: inspiration and demonstration. Using the tools that are available to us in today s generation with the latest technological advances, trying to tell the most compelling stories and narratives of the crafts to the audience using VR will create a whole new market. It can serve as an incredible medium that will allows us to feel empathy for people, the craftsmen, the artisans, the history and stories behind a craft and to understand this world that is completely different from our world full of new generation technologies.

8 These crafts can be depicted and demonstrated virtually giving a live experience and turn into reality by taking inspirations from the real surrounding, incorporating all the elements like the touch of the materials used in the making of an article, the surrounding sounds of the makers talking, singing, materials colliding, the relative music, the vision of the process in making and finishing an article, to envision the lives of the artisans and the craftsmen and the natural surrounding they live in, to hear the stories of the inspirations of the craft all of it in one place. Compiling all the elements together what we have is the real tour, real experiences captured in virtual reality, which can be experienced by the mass, the world without physically having to go for the tour. This will work as an incentive and generate a curiosity amongst the enthusiasts to go and explore the real tour which will eventually grow the market for the crafts and the artisans. Envision being able to dive into the art and crafts scene of any place without physically being there. To be able to get down to the raw materials, feel its texture, the touch, watching artisans create from scratch, learning ancient techniques of say, weaving, craft making, painting, and watching experienced hands at work creating magic with their fingers, hearing the tales of their lives and the craft, listening to the tunes and sounds they hum during the making of a craft. Picture it all. Virtual reality makes it all real. It is an extremely powerful selling tool most of all because it is demonstrated through visuals and its a multi sensory experience. One can sense the environment of the craft being made by the visuals and the sound and a sense of being present at the place makes the unreal so real that one emerges themselves into this virtual reality. This technology takes you on virtual journeys in a complete immersive way. We are entering a new era of content. Consumers seek for more and more experience. VR plays the role of an excellent appetiser to engage them. A virtual craft tour will cover elements like a virtual craft museum experience, a virtual heritage walk, a virtual tour of the craft process, the life of an artisan, the sound of the craft, the touch of the material and all the related elements. Imagine a place where one can touch, feel, sense, live and experience all things real, virtually. These Virtual craft tours will allow people to explore & experience the actual tours virtually which will generate a sense of curiosity to understand the craft and experience the real life tour. These virtual craft tours will help the public connect more to the crafts. Also it can act as an alternative for those who can not afford to experience the actual craft tours, which will be made possible through VR booths, smart phones, Internet, VR apps and Social Media applications and immersive devices. Virtual Reality creates a marketplace where you can easily access to VR content. Although there is a possible argument that craft tour instead of promoting the craft can turn out to be counterproductive. A potential argument that why would the audience be interested in go-

ing to the craft actual location once they have already experienced it through virtual media. The aim is to promote craft, not have a substitute for them.

9 ing to the craft actual location once they have already experienced it through virtual media. The aim is to promote craft, not have a substitute for them. But to counter this, the successful example of application of virtual reality can be seen through many organisations and museums like Louvre Museum, British Museums. An exciting new way that virtual reality is being used in museums is through the experience of entering actual art. Visitors adorn themselves with a virtual reality headset and enter a painting to experience it in a brand new way. Through virtual reality, museum visitors can experience not just a painting in real, but also have personal interaction with persons throughout history. Individuals can also interact with environments and historical artefacts, such as the Bronze Age exhibit at The British Museum. The Virtual Reality Weekend held in the British Museum on August 8 9, 2015, was the first time VR devices had been used to engage families with British Museum collections. This allowed the visitor to explore a virtual reality Bronze Age site, where they saw three-dimensional scans of objects placed in their original setting. Participants were able to explore multiple interpretations of how the objects might have been used in the past across three digital platforms. The British Museum was one of the first museums in the world to incorporate VR technology into its learning programme. The innovative and interactive way of experiencing art through the power of VR, is different from any other museum exhibition. This actually allows a wider audience and helps to strengthen the very nature of art - instilling a sense of humane and creativity in people. Thus Virtual Reality provides a unique opportunity for the larger number of audience to make its first steps into the world of unreachable zones with the help of VR environments and this way add to the knowledge sector on this new potential area of digital learning. Conclusion:

10 In a Virtual environment, the onus of experiencing the narrative is offered to the viewer. They engage with the content based upon their individual aesthetic and emotional judgement, hence each viewing is a singular and nonrecurring experience. This entails recurred viewing of the content thereby prolonged exposure to the message/content, if any. This will allow the craft sector to indulge and invite more and more people for the promotion of the crafts and the artisans, to give the viewers and the stakeholders an interactive immersive experience where they can have a near reality experience of the craft tour and indulge in the crafts like never before. Virtual reality connects humans to other humans and other realities in a profound way that we have never seen before in any other form of media. And it can change people's perception of each other. And that's how I think virtual reality has the potential to act as abridge between the people and the craft world. It's a machine, but through this machine we become more compassionate, we become more empathetic. And ultimately, we become more connected. References:

11 1) Book: Ranjan, A. and Ranjan, M.P. (eds.) (2009) Handmade in India: A geographic encyclopedia of Indian handicrafts. New York: Abbeville Press Inc.,U.S. 2) Video: Milk, C. (2015) How virtual reality can create the ultimate empathy machine. Available at: (Accessed: 1 October 2016). 3) Website: Crafts, M. (2014) Craft tours. Available at: (Accessed: 25 September 2016). 4) Website: Fields, L. (2010) Custom travel experiences in India and beyond. Available at: (Accessed: 25 September 2016). 5) Website: Special interest holidays to India. Available at: (Accessed: 20 September 2016). 6) Website: How virtual reality is being used in museums. Available at: com/virtual-reality-used-museums/ (Accessed: 15 October 2016) 7) Website: Over 300 virtual tours around the world - virtual reality (1996) Available at: (Accessed: 15 October 2016) 8) Website: Virtual reality at the British museum: What is the value of virtual reality environments for learning by children and young people, schools, and families? Available at: mw2016.museumsandtheweb.com/paper/virtual-reality-at-the-british-museum-what-is-the-value-of-virtual-reality-environments-for-learning-by-children-and-young-people-schools-and-families/ (Accessed: 16 October 2016)

Which of the following is an important center of Kalamkari in Andhra Pradesh?

1 In which state do you find the tradition of Phad paintings? Bihar West Bengal Rajasthan. Madhya Pradesh 2 Which of the following is an important center of Kalamkari in Andhra Pradesh? Tanjavur Srikalahasti