One hundred and forty pieces coming from Turin’s Museo Egizio will be a kind of introduction to Ancient Egypt to visitors at CCBB-SP over the next few months. This is a small selection if we take into account the museum’s 40,000-artifact collection—the largest, but not best, Egyptology collection in Europe.

            Just the process of building Museo Egizio’s collection would be worth an exhibition. Except for the National Museum of Egypt, and like many other institutions that possess great Egyptian collections, the story of Museo Egizio’s includes, almost exclusively, not very noble actions such as loots, thefts, unfair appropriations, and suspicious acquisitions. That story starts with Napoleon’s invasion of North Africa in the early 1800s, culminating with the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922 by Howard Carter. The total of 120 years of cultural violence and 100 years of Eurocentric mystification pale in comparison to 3,000 years of pharaonic power.

            With high levels of mystification in the world today, the exhibition is expected to attract large crowds. The expectation is somewhat fueled by entertaining devices included in Peter Tjabbes and Paulo Marini’s curatorial work, taking advantage of scenographic resources so visitors can feel they are before the Khafre pyramid, under the Sphinx of Giza, or inside Queen Nefertiti’s tomb. Guaranteed selfies, nurtured narcissism, and Egypt checked out on the bucket list of cheap myths that inhabit today’s minds.

            For a less superficial contact with pharaonic culture, visitors must read the exhibition’s texts, as this modest artifact collection somewhat functions as their illustrations, presenting three different basic aspects of the Ancient Egyptian World: Everyday activities in a highly stratified society; votive and magical religiosity; and a cult of eternity through movement of material needs to otherworldly life.

            Ironically, the high point of the exhibition is located in CCBB’s cellar, where planks drawn in the 1800s, during Napoleon’s invasion, are located. Despite being somewhat fantasy-like—they are artworks, after all!—they show the Europeans’ perceptions before the magnitude of Ancient Egypt buildings, which they were seeing in their whole splendor for the first time. Those prints, largely diffused, might have inspired many a voyage and exploratory expedition. Regardless of consequences, they help us to understand the fascination we have, to this day, for the world of pharaohs. 

            It is such a shame that current growing financial resources restrictions make it impossible to organize large exhibitions in Brazil. Any institution willing to minimally maintain any major exhibition has to adapt to budget limitations and do what they can to attract visitors. When the issue is to guarantee visitors numbers, investing in settings for selfies seem to be more interesting than spending large amounts with insurance and specialized logistics. The fact is that, with every passing year, the volume and quality of exhibitions available is lower, but the number of visitors increases. This phenomenon can be explained through a recurring question for many cultural institutions: Why should we show people the best when they are happy with so little?

Egito antigo: do cotidiano à eternidade

[Ancient Egypt: From Everyday Life to Eternity]

CCBB-SP

From February 19 to May 11, 2020

Image credits: Bastet Goddess Bronze Statuette, Late Period (722-332 BCE) Bronze, 11 x 4.8 x 7.5 cm. Unknown origin. Acquired before 1882 © Museo Egizio | Cat Mummy. Unknown Origin, 3rd Century BCE-3rd Century CE. Organic material, linen gauze, h. 35.5 cm © Museo Egizio | Hatshepsut Statuette, 25th Dynasty (722-655 BCE) Garywacke, 15.5 x 5 x 4 cm © Museo Egizio