I recently attended theprivate view of the Treasures exhibition.at the museum. I was able to attend this event as I volunteer with the museum’s Youth Forum. This event was rather busy and was attended by a wide age range, from the very young to the old. There was food and a bit of wine, which was quite nice! There were educational stalls, showing reconstructed archaeology digs and Egyptian jewellery.
The event was opened by the curator, which was a nice speech, but would have benifitted from being a tad more concise. They also had freebies! They had set up an area with a pirates treasure chest, and inside were the ‘treasures’. In this case, the ‘treasures’ were edibles – a gold coloured scone, a sweet meringue bone, and two chocolate coins. Although edibles were a nice idea, I personally prefer a physical memento of the event, like the BCB did with their ‘yes/no’ coin. Although this coin was themed around a piece of work, I think that something similar could have been done with this freebie. The chocolate coins did feel like a bit of a cop out.
As for the exhibition itself, I thought it was very well put together. It felt like it was an exhibition of two halves. The first half of the exhibition explored archaeology throughout several ages. There were examples of Aztec gold, mummifications, and roman pottery. I enjoyed the titbits of information, like how there used to be mummification parties, where mummies were unwrapped. I liked the personal stories that were often attached to objects.
The second half of the exhibition focused more on the Indiana Jones side of the exhibition. There were artefacts such as faked ‘ancient’ helmet, a rock crystal skull and the Indiana Jones’ garments. This side did feel somewhat younger, perhaps it was designed for the younger generation. This isn’t nessecerily a bad thing, as the exhibition is in the museum and is aiming to bring in children and their families.
I did enjoy the exhibition, I felt that the curation and visual presentation was very well executed and suited for the venue. My main concern for them would be that I am not sure I would pay the amount for the ticket. There were few promotional images that I could find, so there were no hooks to draw me in. I found it helpful to analyse the presentation of the space within my own work. It has highlighted the idea of having objects on different eye levels, to intrigue the viewer.
For more info about the exhibition, see the website here: http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/cardiff/whatson/8641/Treasures-Adventures-in-Archaeology/
Jade Jenkins 