Elizabeth Frood talks about the colourisation process of Tutankhamun in Colour & creation myths flagged by @photograph_tut in retellings of the discovery. Nothing surpasses an encounter with the objects themselves - & there are so many stories we will explore today #PerformingTut
Next @RichardParkins5 talks about @bodleianlibs#ExcavatingtheArchive exhibition - moving beyond imperial nostalgia & the ‘Downton Abbey’ popular gold approach. Looking at the archives. Shifting the paradigm from treasure to a much more complex historical process. #PerformingTut
Interesting reflections from colleagues in the the #PerformingTut roundtable that excavations happened within their own time, we can’t judge it in black & white. What we can do now is move on - both learning from the past & uncovering/articulating more stories.
There is a role for #Tutankhamun in Assassin’s Creed as the restorer of order in contrast with the Heretic King Akhenaten. Only meaningful in relation to each other. Based on scholarship perspectives but an agenda as part of the game. #PerformingTut@KingMaiken
Use of the mask to identify Tutankhamun as recognisable but the strong & powerful depiction is not true to reality though necessary for the powerful avenger persona in the game. #PerformingTut
Reception upon reception. The mummy as avenger is based on Elizabeth Taylor’s Cleopatra. The curse theme serves as a critique of tomb robbery & theft of antiquities. #PerformingTut@KingMaiken
Interesting results in terms of dwell times, engagement & interest for younger demographics. Mixed reality can enhance the museum experience. #PerformingTut@DrRamyHammady
A challenge posed around the use of these sorts of technologies for improved experience & engagement in the future by @DrRamyHammady#PerformingTut
Last talk in this session is about SEN friendly, interactive & affordable portable resources for KS2 to teach about Howard Carter. Active rather than passive learning. Child-led. A mix of props & replicas as clues. Group work. Story focused. #PerformingTut
Engaging with key replicas & props that serve as prompts for discussion - keys (carter’s temperament), trowel (archaeologists), paint (artist), seed (canary), candle etc.. #PerformingTut
Opportunity also to teach chronology. Engage with ideas from the past (telegram - time taken to wait, exclusivity of Times & challenge with this, curse origin…). Engaged kids producing their own records. Challenge - how do we bring in other voices in the future? #PerformingTut
Supplementary activities - putting themselves in the position. Next steps - outreach. Work with correspondents, creative writing. #PerformingTut
Here’s a few books we’ve enjoyed that connect to the topic for kids #PerformingTut
Next up today - the session on Readers, Writers & Consumers #PerformingTut - is kicked off by Jose dad Candeias Sales & Susana Mota on Tutankhamun in Portugal
News reported in Portuguese press, during period of national political challenge, is assessed. Much was sent from elsewhere. Seeming disinterest but contradicted by the space given by newspapers to it. Focus on ‘Know the Past, ‘Cherish the Past’ & ‘Fear the Past’ #PerformingTut
First - know facts, gaps etc… 2nd - cherish the past - looking at beauty of objects, great archaeology, excitement & engagement of public. Profusion of images. #PerformingTut
Finally topic - ‘fear the past’ - used a lot… mysteries, superstition, revenge, threat, magic etc… the curse narrative associated with fear, revenge & desecration. #PerformingTut
Tutankhamun was a means through which the Portuguese engaged with Ancient Egypt & brought it closer & into arts & culture. #PerformingTut
Next is @KamaBraulinska on the babies in the tomb of Tutankhamun. Lots of newspaper coverage on the topic & the relationship to Tutankhamun. Also reference to @MaidstoneMuseum finding of a child rather than a hawk in their collection through scanning. #PerformingTut
Story at @MaidstoneMuseum went viral similarly a case at @swanseamuseum - another case also went viral of a ‘pregnant mummy’ (not the case) in Poland. Resonance with the discoveries in Tutankhamun’s tomb. #PerformingTut
Some reports prefer the sensation to the truth in these stories. The two children from the tomb are an intriguing influence on both science and media. #PerformingTut
Final presentation in this section @SummerRose721 from @UCLarchaeology on the commodification & branding of Tutankhamun - beginning with the exclusive contract with the Times. Made ‘Tut’ a Western product to sell. Spink and Sons auction - first to capitalise. #PerformingTut
Characteristics of some recent Blockbusters. Overtly political, targeted to large audience, aesthetics & power/drama, multiple locations, sponsorship, media coverage, narrative, exclusivity. Associated with sales of products - highly curated. Tut can be bought. #PerformingTut
Subject of parties, special access, re-enactments, exclusivity. Drama, exclusivity, commercialisation. Tut can be obtained for the right price. This continues into the international auction market. Auction as performance & marketplace for re-telling #PerformingTut
Even tenuous connections to Tutankhamun can add premiums to auctions. Tut™️ has become a brand. Presented as a common heritage, luxury, commodity. Tut as separated from Tutankhamun. Images of gold, treasure - commanding high prices. #PerformingTut
Final session of the #PerformingTut afternoon - Artistic responses, past and present. On ‘Revenge of the Pharaohs: the lost 1924 film biography of Howard Carter’. Daniel also researches the misuse of Ancient Egypt in Third Reich narratives. #PerformingTut
Carnarvon v interested in the idea of a motion picture but this disappeared after his death. Filmmakers capitalised on the interest. Often looking to the bible. Props to hand included copies of Nefertiti’s bust from Berlin & copies of Tutankhamun’s tomb furniture #PerformingTut
There was a major film created with Carter & Carnarvon as a subject but not naming them because of rights. #PerformingTut
A story of the wealthy lord who travels to Egypt & is permitted to excavate, including Egyptian nationalists who try to stop the digging. #PerformingTut
The film is sadly lost but stills fortunately exist… a story of nationalists trying to thwart an excavation, discovery of treasure, a love story, fighting etc.. #PerformingTut
The attention to detail from the tomb is meticulous. (Picture 3). #PerformingTut
Reference to the ITV recent ‘biographical’ story (inaccurate as it was) follows in the vein of the narrative about the discover through the eyes of Carter, Carnarvon & Evelyn. #PerformingTut
Next up is Deena Mohamed, an Egyptian comic writer - her graphic novel is about bottles with wishes you can buy from the cheap to the expensive, granting wishes from the inferior to first class. In the story a relative investigates the genesis of the product. #PerformingTut
Deena talks about the influence of @EgyptianMuseumC on her work. School children go to the museum, learn about the discovery but less about the tomb & Tutankhamun himself. Did a lot of visual research including videos. #PerformingTut@itsdeenasaur
Fictional world had to be an agglomeration - not specific to a particular pharaoh. Used Seti/Ramessides for scale. Egyptologists in 1950s - fictional - can remove items but not bodies. Discover not perfume but a wish mine. #PerformingTut
Great to bring the story back to an Egyptian origin for the wishes at the end of the trilogy & also go & see the tomb itself after finishing the book. #PerformingTut@itsdeenasaur
Finally Sara Sallam, Egyptian artist based in the Netherlands. Reflecting on the version of Egypt she met in Europe. Observation journey. Contradictory themes coexisting together. Eg nature of the cemetery & different experiences & behaviours depending on age. #PerformingTut
Using collage focused on her grandmother Sara explored by projecting images into ancient contexts the differing treatment of these memorials. Do we really perceive the ancients as human ancestors to be mourned? #PerformingTut
This led to more academic work on dehumanisation of mummies via photos and film. #PerformingTut
Film essays accompany chapters & look at the reinvigoration of the mummy as either to be feared, a pitiful creature to be controlled, then mummy as monster. A 2nd death as mummy on screen - devoid of emotion from mummy. Requires little empathy from us. #PerformingTut
Next she focuses on a mummy’s perspective on their own treatment using a film essay of reflection. #PerformingTut
The latest work “I prayed for the Resin not to Melt” will be here sarasallam.com along with her other work #PerformingTut
A fantastic, energising afternoon at #PerformingTut - lots of food for thought & research & some refreshing research & perspectives. Thanks to the organisers @EllieCDobson@UoBEgyptology Spice enjoyed it too. 🐈⬛
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A treat to join our @Heritage_NGOs member @PSSAtweets for @MarshAwards for public sculpture. David Aaronovitch talks to begin about past art, past politics. There are some important perhaps unobserved mosaics in public buildings. 1928-33 mosaics added to floor of NG. V&A too.
We need to remember to look down at floors! Boris Anrep included many muses in mosaic art. Some private art of past is now public art. Public art piques interest - allows us to pull threads & see where they go. Defiance for eg is shape of a swastika & wears a papal crown. Why?
Shortlist for @MarshAwards for excellence in public sculpture
A pleasure to join @kidsinmuseums for their (always uplifting) annual family friendly museum awards.
First up the best museum youth project for social justice - shortlisted are @WiltshireMuseum, @bcaheritage & @GlasgowMuseums with the winners this year the @bcaheritage 👏
The next category is the best accessible museum category with shortlisted museums - The Beaney House of Arts & Knowledge Canterbury @The_Beaney, @eurekamuseum & @BarnsleyMuseums Worsbrough Mill Museum & Country Park with the winners @eurekamuseum
Good morning from Saltaire & @WorldHeritageUK Day 2 - first up this morning is Ashleigh Taylor of Blaenavon WHS talking about the Benefits of World Heritage to local communities. WHUK there to support in a centralised way to help & empower sites on this.
What is local community in this context - v local… neighbourhoods, those living and working in and around the site. 6-7 weeks into a project on this. Started by looking at periodic review data. 79% reported positive impact through tourism but also 47% negative - a balance.
41% say illegal activity an issue… 41% negative financial factors. Huge economic contribution but community data shows some way to go. Support needed to build confidence in some areas.
Good morning from the @WorldHeritageUK conference at Victoria Hall in WHS Saltaire. I’ll be tweeting some highlights here. We are welcomed by Chair Paul Simons, Councillor Alex Ross & Lazare Assomo of UNESCO.
Lord Wallace of Saltaire outlines some of the history of why Saltaire is so special. Sir Titus Salt’s vision for workers when the child mortality in Bradford was one of the worst in the country & life expectancy of millworkers was 18. bradford.gov.uk/environment/sa…
Unlike most WHS Saltaire is in mixed ownership. Salts Mill preserves this important site & contributes to economy. Salts Foundation cares for public buildings. Shipley College looks after others. Also owners & tenants of homes & shops. Here - from a previous visit
Today I’ll be heading North to the fringes of the @Conservatives Party Conference. Also on party conference watch the @TheGreenParty adopted a heritage & tourism policy over the weekend: linkedin.com/pulse/greener-…
Back up north - this time for a media reception at @Conservatives party conference with @HuddlestonNigel & culture colleagues. Loving all the industrial heritage adding quality to place at the heart of Manchester.
Joined ITV & public broadcasters alongside other creative industries & arts colleagues at a reception this evening with @HuddlestonNigel Shadow Culture Secretary, Lord Parkinson & others at @BridgewaterHall. Good to hear commitment to the importance of the creative industries.
En route to @UKLabour #LabourConference2025 for a flying visit today to the fringes. Will be tweeting on here from @thefabians sessions on planning/housing, attending a receptions with @CanalRiverTrust & @cityandguilds on skills
Here with the @thefabians at the historic @theBluecoat for a session with Matthew Pennycook @mhclg minister on “Planning for Change” - looking at planning and housing
Pennycook is starting by outlining how Labour is following the plans to the letter - planning & infrastructure Bill, Devo, NPPF changes, making more land available, social & affordable housing investment. Homes accelerator. National Housing Bank £16bn.