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News24 attended the launch of Google Arts & Culture and Phansi museum's new partnership titled 'I Am Because You Are: A Celebration of South African Creativity'.
Google SA has unveiled its collaboration with Durban museum Phansi as part of their initiative to digitise museums.
The new partnership is titled 'I Am Because You Are: A Celebration of South African Creativity'.
This is Google SA's largest collection in South Africa, bringing more than 5000 artefacts to an online space for the first time using advanced technology similar to that used in its Street View application.
The online collaboration includes not only the Phansi Museum but eight other institutions across South Africa and took more than three years to complete.
Dr Alistair Mokoena, Country Director for Google South Africa, celebrated that the public can now access, explore and discover the stories behind the museum through immersive tours and curated online exhibits, especially as South Africans marked Heritage Day this weekend.
"Our goal has always been to bring the world's culture online for everyone - allowing individuals to experience it in new ways. This project has been three years in the making, and we are thrilled to be able to bring over 5000 high-resolution images, five museum views and 10 online exhibits digitally to the public through Phansi museum's bespoke page on the Google Arts & Culture website," he said.
Mokoena added:
News24 was invited to experience the rich heritage site.
A section that sparks conversation is the 'Identity installation' consisting of twenty life-size marionettes dressed in regional attire, which showcase the incredible inventiveness of the people of southern Africa.
"The musical instruments provide a backdrop of rhythm to this collection of body art," said museum founder Paul Mikula.
Mikula has travelled the world for many years, collecting some of the artefacts that form part of the collection. He is happy to see all the hard work bearing results finally.
"It has been a long journey to get this project to this point; three of those years have been working with Google, and we are proud to be partners. We hope this will allow our work to be seen and enjoyed by Africans in the diaspora but also by the world at large," he said.
Mathabo Kunene, the executive managing trustee of the Mazisi Kunene Foundation in Durban, said it was exciting to see such an initiative take place in our lifetime. She looks forward to the ongoing work that still needs to be done to preserve South African heritage.
"This is an amazing moment. Of course, it is exciting. How else can we preserve it? If you visit our museums, you will see that digitising needs to happen now. Because Durban is hot and humid," she said.
Established by the Mazisi Kunene Foundation, the Mazisi Kunene Museum is home to the poet laureate's years of work while in exile.
"Part of his political struggle was to never write in English. So all his work was to write in isiZulu," she said.
Mathabo added that the museum had also kicked off its process of digitisation of artefacts and books.
"On the same day, Google went to Phansi museum, was the same day they popped into the Mazisi Kunene Museum. They came, and we signed an agreement, but we did not get the funding we needed. We applied to Lotto, but we never got it. We worked with Google for three years to get them 55 thousand pages digitised," she explained.
Amit Sood, Director of Google Arts & Culture, was thrilled by the partnership with a South African organisation.
"Thanks to our digitisation effort with the Phansi Museum, this hub will help us bring cultural treasures, inspiring stories about art, and crafts to the people of South Africa and, in the process, assist in the further development of the arts landscape in the country," he said.
Key stories available through the project include:
Five Artworks Telling South African Stories [Phansi Museum]
A Virtual Tour of Phansi Museum (Explore Phansi in 360) [Phansi Museum]
Medicine, Mending and Mastery: South Africa's Sangomas and Inyangas [Phansi Museum]
God With A Wet Nose: In Praise of Cattle [Phansi Museum]
Ndebele Women Celebrated: Artist Barbara Tyrell pays homage to South African women through her illustrations [University of Pretoria]
Trance and Transformation in the San Great Dance
Journeys into Textile and Identity : Five South African Artists [Social Fabric]
