Unveiling of the Center Jonathan K.S. Choi for the Promotion of the Cultural heritage

Thanks to the Institute of the Arab World and the support of the businessman Jonathan Choi, president of the Chinese conglomerate Sun Wah, the exposure “Quoted Thousand–year–old, virtual travel of Palmyre to Mosul” gives to the visitors the opportunity of actually discovering virtual destroyed mythical places or in danger following the many conflicts which prevailed in the Middle East, destroying the Arab heritage massively.

For this new experiment, the IMA joined for the first time the one of the world leaders of the creation of video games Ubisoft. The company, which carried out the series “Assassin‘ S Creed «  is very invested in work of digital safeguard of the heritage; this is why, it was dedicated to exploit data of UNESCO via technology emergent and Iconem of which some are acquired starting from drones and of the use of photogrammetry, just like of others on the ground.

Iconem was founded to contribute in 2013 to the conservation of the world heritage by digitizing it to preserve it. The models 3D facilitate the work of the experts and plunge the public in cultural diversity thanks to the immersives exhibitions and experiments.                                                                      The mission for the threatened heritage was born at the period when the cofounder and chair, Yves Ubelmann, was in Syria, Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan. It worked there of 2006 to 2010 as an architect at the time when nobody thought of documenting the degraded places, destroyed or in the process of fast disappearance. After having created its foundation, it is turned over in these countries affected by the wars and Daesh. Among these sites, it selected of them some of which Palmyre, Alep and Damas in Syria or Mosul, Khorsabad and Samarra in Iraq.

Ubisoft, on its side, is interested in work of digital safeguard of the heritage and applied them within the framework of the exposure “Quoted Thousand–year–old.” Thanks to a helmet, the visitor finds himself transported in the middle of six emblematic sites: The temple of Baalshamin with Palmyre and the souk of Alep in Syie; The underground of Nabi Younes, the church Notre–Dame of the Hour and the Al–Nouri Mosque in Mosul in Iraq; The Basilica of Leptis Magna in Libya. It can move in the 9 m ² allocated with this experiment and feel within the framework of the sites as if it were on the spot.
The Thousand–year–old exposure “Quoted” is part of the five projects (Rehabilitation of the Tomb of Askia in Gao in Mali; Evaluations for the rehabilitation of the Museum of Mosul and reconstruction of the monastery of Mar Behnam in Iraq; A training program on the ground architecture), constant last June by the ALIPH (Alliance International for heritage protection in the zones in Conflict), created last year on the initiative of France and the United Arab Emirates.

The cultural heritage became a target, particularly in the Middle East and the Sahel but also in all the places aimed by the terrorist groups as to Pakistan or in Afghanistan.  Saudi Arabia, China, France, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Luxembourg and Morocco were the first donor countries, just like the Foundation Andrew W. Mellon, the Swiss authorities and two givers private. Moreover, the role of the ALIPH is recognized by the Security Council of UNO for heritage protection on the ground in link with international organizations like UNESCO. Future calls for projects will be launched in the formation, the inventory of collections muséales, the fight against the illicit traffic, the reconstruction of the monuments and the restoration, the creation of refuges cities… the ALIPH profits from funds of 76 million dollars of promises of donations. It is based on digital technology and numeration in 3D.

Tuesday, October 16, Dr. Jonathan Choi, President of the Chinese conglomerate Sun Wah and Jack Lang, President of the Institute of the Arab World inaugurated the Center Jonathan K.S.Choi for the Promotion of the Cultural heritage, officializing the partnership made possible thanks to the embassy of France to China, between the conglomerate and the IMA; the exposure “Quoted Thousand–year–old, virtual Travel of Palmyre to Mosul «  is the first stage and profited from it from a support of 500,000 euros on behalf of Sun Wah who supports other educational projects and cultural throughout the world of which École Nationale Supérieure of Beautiful arts (ENSBA) of Paris which received a gift of a million dollars in 2016 or the Festival Crossings, first foreign festival in China and greater French festival abroad with a patronage of approximately 100,000 euros a year between 2017 and 2019…

The family group Sun Wah was founded in Macao in 1957 by the father of the current president. At the time, it was specialized in the transformation, the trade and the distribution of seafood. Since the resumption of the group by Jonathan Choi in 1976, the activities diversified around 7 principal branches of activity of which agri–foodstuffs, the real estate (residential hotels, shopping centres, buildings), the financial services (participation in group of which Canadian International Kingsway, development of software and industrial applications in particular with Chinese universities), infrastructures (motorways) and the media (film distribution, development of cinemas).  Foundation was born at dawn from the Seventies, investing in educational projects as well in China, Hong Kong and Macao as abroad as in Michigan with the creation of 2 centers (1 in China and the other in the USA), in the Viêt – Nam since 2011, the United Kingdom. In 2005, the 3è International School, inspired by the method Montessori was created in Beijing. It exempts to a bilingual teaching English–Chinese with foreign children of the nursery school with the CP. In 2017, the school 3rd was transferred to the international French High school from Beijing.

Dr. Jonathan Choi very committed for the French culture, is turned permanently towards the other countries. This is why the IMA is very proud that Sun Wah agreed to join his actions by supporting the exchanges between the East and Occident and that the foundation is the principal patron of the exposure” Quoted Thousand–year–old, virtual Travel of Palmyre to Mosul”.

The unveiling of the Center Jonathan K.S.Choi for the Promotion of the Cultural heritage in the buildings of the IMA takes place in full Asian week in France with the arrival of Korean President Moon Jae–in and that of Japanese the Prime Minister Shinzo Abé. Other projects are under investigation thanks to this partnership of which that devoted to the silk route for 2020.

The president of the Republic went Tuesday evening to the IMA and met the partners of the exposure, Mr. Jack Lang and Mr. Jonathan Choi; he was accompanied by the coldly named Minister for the culture, Mr. Frank Riester and of the deputy of Paris, president of group LREM to the Parliament, Mr. Gilles Le Gendre; Mrs. Lenient Aurélie Ruiz, police chief of the exposure their made discover this virtual travel through giant projections on Mosul, Alep, Leptis Magna and Palmyre but also of the reconstitutions in 3D.

The expoition is held at the Institute of the Arab World from October 10th, 2018 to February 10th, 2019. It is also possible to take part in guided tours from October 10th to December 30th like with workshops of writing and creation in family.

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