Lo sguardo dell’antropologo
"Lo sguardo dell’antropologo. Connessioni con il Museo di Antropologia ed Etnografia dell’Università di Torino” (The Anthropologist’s view. Connections with the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography of the University of Turin) is the title of the new temporary exhibition of the Museo Egizio, open from June 13th 2020 to January 31st 2021.
The exhibition aims to reconstruct the relations between Egyptology and Anthropology over the centuries, identifying future research perspectives and collaborations. The focus of the exhibition is the mummy of a young woman from the archaeological site of Gebelein, whose restoration, carried out by Dr. Cinzia Oliva, was recently completed at the Centre for Conservation and Restoration "La Venaria Reale".
In the exhibition space, the visitor will find four showcases: the first, with an overview on the birth and main contents of cultural anthropology; the second, it is dedicated to the MAET, Museo di Antropologia ed Etnografia dell’Università di Torino, founded in 1926 by Giovanni Marro; the third showcase reconstructs the excavation context in which the mummy of the young woman was found; the last one focuses on the vision of Egypt in the context of the African continent, currently at the centre of a re-appropriation issues in Africanist studies after having been decontextualized for many years in the past.
The exhibition ends with a video called “The Young Africans and Egypt”, which investigates the role of ancient Egypt for contemporary Africans, who, through a series of interviews, provocatively overturn the typically Orientalist vision of Egypt seen as the cradle of European civilization.
The fact that the MAET has been closed to the public since 1984 makes this exhibition an unique opportunity to admire the finds from a collection that is currently not accessible. Some of the most important artifacts, which have been preserved in the warehouses of the Museo di Antropologia for the last decades, will be finally on view.
The exhibition aims to reconstruct the relations between Egyptology and Anthropology over the centuries, identifying future research perspectives and collaborations. The focus of the exhibition is the mummy of a young woman from the archaeological site of Gebelein, whose restoration, carried out by Dr. Cinzia Oliva, was recently completed at the Centre for Conservation and Restoration "La Venaria Reale".
In the exhibition space, the visitor will find four showcases: the first, with an overview on the birth and main contents of cultural anthropology; the second, it is dedicated to the MAET, Museo di Antropologia ed Etnografia dell’Università di Torino, founded in 1926 by Giovanni Marro; the third showcase reconstructs the excavation context in which the mummy of the young woman was found; the last one focuses on the vision of Egypt in the context of the African continent, currently at the centre of a re-appropriation issues in Africanist studies after having been decontextualized for many years in the past.
The exhibition ends with a video called “The Young Africans and Egypt”, which investigates the role of ancient Egypt for contemporary Africans, who, through a series of interviews, provocatively overturn the typically Orientalist vision of Egypt seen as the cradle of European civilization.
The fact that the MAET has been closed to the public since 1984 makes this exhibition an unique opportunity to admire the finds from a collection that is currently not accessible. Some of the most important artifacts, which have been preserved in the warehouses of the Museo di Antropologia for the last decades, will be finally on view.
