You’ll never look with the same eyes at the British Museum’s legendary Egyptian collection—or any other exhibition, for that matter—after going behind the scenes with Stephanie Moser to explore not only the objects on display in the collection’s early years, but also the fascinating story of how and why they got there. Revealing the surprising extent to which these artifacts have defined ancient Egypt in the West, Moser argues here that museums don’t just transmit knowledge—they actually create it.
Drawing on guidebooks and archival documents, Moser explains the specific strategies—such as using pattern and symmetry, juxtaposing different types of objects, and singling out particular items—that the British Museum and others used, and still use, in representing other societies and historical periods. Far from being passive receptacles for unchangeable facts, museums emerge in Moser’s hands as dynamic hotbeds for new wisdom and ideas, profoundly affecting the way we think about everything from art to science to the deep mysteries of our past.
Read the press release.