Running from July 7th to October 31st, LCX Sci-Fi Universe Immersion Exhibition (jointly organized by FT Culture and China Focus) made its debut at Beijing Shijingshan Amusement park. This exhibit blends together panoramic content taken from LCX Sci-Fi Universe, interactive multimedia content, original artwork, multi-language books, motion comic, vomic and dozens of kinds of cultural and creative merchandise. In doing so, it presents every one of its visitors with a chance to experience a space devoted to science fiction – a space that is all at once diverse, elegant, colorful, lively, fascinating, and deeply profound.
Occupying nearly 1100 square meters, this immersive environment vividly recreates iconic scenes from Graphic Novel Collection of Liu Cixin’s Sci-Fi Classics. The exhibition’s main components are a projection area, an audiobook area, a manuscript art area, a 5G exploration area, a theme area (rotating on a monthly basis), smaller exhibits themed around the first four works of Graphic Novel Collection of Liu Cixin’s Sci-Fi Classics, and a sales area for cultural and creative products.
Within the 5G exploration area, a massive 270-degree high-definition trifold screen presents visitors with immersive multimedia content from The Wandering Earth and Yuanyuan’s Bubbles made with no-glasses 3D technology, giving them the chance to experience some of the classic scenes from these comics firsthand. In the audiobook area, visitors are provided with headphones to listen to extracts from The Wandering Earth, in addition to special first-time previews of upcoming graphic novel releases, behind-the-scenes videos of the graphic novel creation process, and interviews with some of the comic authors. In the monthly rotating theme area, the exhibit organizers collaborate with partners from various fields to launch themed activities that enrich the entire exhibit’s content.
The Wandering Earth mini-exhibit hosts a specially-installed simulation cockpit, in which guests can experience scenes from the Wandering Earth story from a first-person perspective. Visitors can also doodle their own whimsical ideas on paper, and then use a specialized scanner to transform them into 3D models. Projected onto a nearby wall, each person’s creation becomes a unique piece of science fiction imagery. The Village Teacher mini-exhibit, meanwhile, not only recreates the shabby classroom environment from the comic, but also furnishes visitors with VR goggles through which they can gaze at the dreamy Searulean. It’s worth noting that the desks in the classroom are themselves “visitors” from an actual rural school! At the Sea of Dreams mini-exhibit, mobile phones attached to display racks offer a look at the scene from the comic in which “Low-Temperature Artist” unscrupulously siphons Earth’s seawater to make a giant ice block. Finally, with its displays of mirrors and shining orbs, the Yuanyuan’s Bubbles mini-exhibit has already earned a warm welcome from the exhibition’s younger visitors.
On July 21st, organizers hosted the opening ceremony for LCX Sci-Fi Universe Immersion Exhibition’s world premiere. A number of government agency leaders and more than 10 well-known media outlets were invited to attend the event. Representatives on behalf of the series’ publisher included the main leadership of China National Publications Import & Export (Group) Corporation (China Focus’s parent company), who participated in the opening ceremony activities together. A journey bringing together science, technology, and culture had officially begun!
Because it leverages science and technology to empower comics’ appeal and create an immersive, interactive experience for its visitors, this groundbreaking exhibit has attracted coverage from Science and Technology Daily, The Beijing News, Xinhuanet, China News Service, China Youth Daily, and other well-known media outlets.
One visitor to the exhibition said that he had come to see it after hearing a friend’s recommendation. Upon witnessing the vibrant, three-dimensional comic book content and the spectacular digital sci-fi environments, he could not help but express his opinion that the exhibition was an absolutely stunning visual feast.
Graphic Novel Collection of Liu Cixin’s Sci-Fi Classics, a product of FT Culture, was jointly created by a group of 28 domestic and foreign comic book artists. Consisting of 15 works in total, each volume adapts a different short story or novel by renowned science fiction author Liu Cixin. In June of this year, the second series of this collection was successfully released in China; Chinese edition of the collection are published exclusively by CITIC Press Group. Additionally, the goal of publishing the books internationally is well on its way to being achieved: the first series of the collection (containing four works) will hit shelves later this year with an American English edition (from Skyhorse Publishing), a British English edition (from Head of Zeus), and a German edition (from Splitter Verlag.) A French edition (from Delcourt Group) will follow soon after, and readers in Francophone countries can expect to enjoy the series at some point in 2022. Given that comics can incorporate both the creative potential of literature and the aesthetic tension of graphic art, FT Culture eagerly awaits the continued opportunities this medium will provide in forming connections with readers and art enthusiasts all over the world.
