The neolithic Liangzhu ruins in Hangzhou is over 5,000 years old. This week culture meets the future there. At the Third UNESCO High-Level Forum for Museums our reporter Wang Siwen spoke with Ernesto Ottone Ramirez, UNESCO’s Assistant Director-General for Culture, about the transformation of museums in the twenty-first century.
WANG SIWEN CGTN Reporter “Mr. Ottone, the forum’s theme emphasizes transformation beyond heritage preservation. How do you envision the role of museums evolving in today’s fast-changing world?”
ERNESTO OTTONE RAMIREZ Assistant Director-General for Culture, UNESCO “Today when we are talking on museum, it’s in relation with communities. It’s how community find themselves, see themselves, have a relationship with intangible cultural heritage. So it’s not only of preservation of our history. It’s about our present and looking at the future. How are we going to build a society that it’s more fair, more inclusive, and more diverse, that’s what we are trying to have this third-forum.”
WANG SIWEN CGTN Reporter “With the rise of AI and immersive technologies, how is UNESCO encouraging museums to embrace digital transformation while staying rooted in authenticity?”
ERNESTO OTTONE RAMIREZ Assistant Director-General for Culture, UNESCO “First of all, at UNESCO in 2021 our member states, including China, decided to have what is called the Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence. We are trying to share all the good practices around artificial intelligence. In building new museums, in Africa, when we were working on this, it took us seven or eight or nine years. Today with artificial Intelligence, you don’t need nine years. You need one people in five months, and you can summarize and have all the archives. And now comes the time to reflect on how far we can use this technology without suppressing the human touch.”
WANG SIWEN CGTN Reporter “You have said before, ‘Culture creates meaning for our shared humanity. It speaks to the stability and harmony of our societies.’ How do museums serve as bridges across cultures in today’s polarized world?”
ERNESTO OTTONE RAMIREZ Assistant Director-General for Culture, UNESCO “Museums are bridges, an intercultural bridge that allows social cohesion when you have in society division between minorities, when there are some religious extremist, it allows dialogue between the community. That’s something that I believe that places like museums are the custodians, that can give new generation hopes of having a society that’s more put together.”
WANG SIWEN CGTN Reporter “How do you view UNESCO’s collaboration with China in the cultural sector?”
ERNESTO OTTONE RAMIREZ Assistant Director-General for Culture, UNESCO “It’s amazing. Right now. We are in the middle of a process with the Minister of Culture to sign an MOU for many projects that we want to launch, so we are in the best moment of our history, I believe in the culture sector with China. And I believe that China has a large vast experience that they want to share with the world. UNESCO is also looking to have as an example on when you put culture in the middle, in the center of sustainable development. So we are very keen to see all these projects that are starting right now.”
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