For intangible cultural heritage, and built on publicly accessible museum collection records, object-level source chains, and materials expressly identified by source institutions as open access, public domain, or otherwise reusable,the system serves as digital content infrastructure for public education, bilingual communication, and cultural understanding

March 31, 2026 | Official News Release

The World Intangible Cultural Heritage Federation (WICHF) today officially launched its “Open-Collections-Driven Digital Interpretation System for Intangible Cultural Heritage,” together with the first public-facing bilingual online exhibition framework. Structured around object-level pages, the system organizes and interprets relevant works drawn from publicly accessible museum collection ecosystems along lines of craft, ritual, dress, material memory, and cultural transmission, forming a digital content structure that combines source chains, rights information, bilingual reading, and public-education value.

The initial release currently draws primarily on publicly accessible collection records and related digital materials from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Cleveland Museum of Art, The Walters Art Museum, and the Art Institute of Chicago, and has already formed an online exhibition system comprising 67 object-level pages across 4 source institutions. Each object retains source-institution identification, an original collection-record entry point, an object number, rights information, and corresponding bilingual interpretive text. Editorially, the system also provides curatorial notes, object overviews, heritage-relevance notes, and related-object recommendations, allowing publicly accessible collection objects dispersed across different institutions to be reorganized into an intelligible, readable, and expandable narrative path for intangible heritage.

WICHF stated that digital communication of intangible cultural heritage with real public value should not stop at image display, but should instead be grounded in object-level source chains, rights information, content governance, and sustained editorial workflows. The system is not designed as a simple aggregation of images. Rather, it brings together publicly accessible collection records and related materials explicitly identified by source institutions as open access, public domain, or otherwise reusable within a unified editorial and publishing mechanism, so that traditional crafts, ritual objects, dress materials, and cultural memory can be translated into a public-facing interpretive framework on a lawful, prudent, and verifiable basis.

Unlike a conventional image-based page, what WICHF has released is not a single web product but a digital interpretation mechanism with sustained operational capacity. Built on the principles of traceable object sources, verifiable rights status, readable bilingual content, and expandable section structure, the mechanism turns open-collections resources into a public-facing digital system for interpreting intangible heritage through object-level records, preserved source chains, synchronized rights information, page-level explanation, and thematic editorial grouping. Its significance lies not merely in presenting the works themselves, but in establishing a forward-looking method of digital interpretation through which traditional craft and cultural expression can move beyond fragmented collection data and enter a clearer, more systematic, and more communicable public narrative.

All materials incorporated into the system are based on publicly accessible pages, public collection records, or related digital materials expressly identified by source institutions as open access, public domain, or otherwise reusable. The names of source institutions are used in the system and in this release primarily for source identification, object correspondence, and public information reference. Object summaries, Chinese translations, heritage-relevance notes, and other editorial structures appearing on these pages are independently prepared by WICHF to strengthen public readability, cross-linguistic understanding, and educational communication. WICHF also preserves original record links and rights information throughout the system in order to enhance transparency, source clarity, and standards of responsible public use, thereby supporting higher-quality use of open-collections resources in intangible-heritage interpretation, public cultural education, and international communication.

WICHF believes that the value of open collections lies not only in releasing images, but in reconnecting objects and knowledge. In the field of intangible cultural heritage, many techniques, rituals, forms of dress, materials, and artifacts already exist within a knowledge chain shaped jointly by what is visible and what is embedded in practice. Through object-level pages, cross-source editorial arrangement, bilingual interpretation, and heritage-relevance framing, WICHF hopes to help the public understand that traditional culture is not a static set of display objects, but a living knowledge structure that runs through materials, techniques, uses, ritual contexts, circulation, and reproduction. This release therefore marks a phased effort by WICHF to translate international open-collections resources into a public-education capability for intangible heritage.

Around its official website and bilingual content system, WICHF has completed the first phase of its public display architecture, object-level page system, and controlled update workflow, gradually forming a foundational content capacity for public reading, bilingual communication, and digital exhibition. At the same time, in support of international understanding and engagement with public issues, WICHF has, under applicable public rules, established organizational profile and participation foundations on selected UN-related public platforms and within international cooperation systems for purposes including public information display, knowledge sharing, project communication, and subsequent cooperation exploration. Such progress is based on public rules and platform functions and does not constitute a uniform level of membership, project approval, or official partnership recognition. In the next phase, WICHF will continue to refine this digital system on a lawful, source-clear, and rights-prudent basis, further strengthening its service capacity in public cultural education, international communication, cross-cultural understanding, and standardized expression for intangible heritage.

About WICHF

The World Intangible Cultural Heritage Federation (WICHF) is an institution centered on intangible cultural heritage and engaged in public education, digital interpretation, bilingual communication, standardized expression, and international cooperation. WICHF focuses on traditional crafts, cultural settings, living knowledge, and related digital content systems, and explores public-facing interpretation mechanisms, object-level source-chain governance, and sustainable digital display paths to enhance the visibility, intelligibility, and communicability of intangible-heritage content.

Responding to the practical need to make Chinese intangible cultural heritage more globally legible, WICHF advances information standardization, bilingual explanatory systems, digital content translation, and “environment + heritage” applications. Under applicable public rules, it has also established profile and participation foundations on selected UN-related public platforms and within international cooperation systems in support of knowledge sharing, project communication, and cooperation exploration.

Information Source Note

The online exhibition system and related object content described in this release are based primarily on publicly accessible collection records, object pages, and object-label information from source institutions, including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Cleveland Museum of Art, The Walters Art Museum, and the Art Institute of Chicago. Their names are used here for source identification, object reference, and public information correspondence. Object summaries, Chinese translations, heritage-relevance notes, and editorial structuring are independently prepared by WICHF.

Release Use: Official News Release