Introductory -- Curating the ancient Middle East / Geoff Emberling and Lucas Petit -- Museum displays and the creation of the ancient Middle East : a view from the Ashmolean and the British museum / Paul Collins -- Ancient "art" in the white cube? or how contemporary art creates ancient "art"? / Pedro Azara and Marc Marín -- Perspectives from national museums -- 170 years of curatorial practices and audiences at the Louvre : exhibiting ancient Middle Eastern antiquities from 1847 to 2017 / Ariane Thomas -- Gallery 55 at the British Museum : Mesopotamia 1500-539 BC / Irving Finkel and Alexandra Fletcher -- Unlocking architectures? communicating cultures : ancient Middle Eastern worlds in the Vorderasiatisches Museum / Lutz Martin -- And now for something completely different? Tthe renewal of the ancient Middle Eastern Gallery in the Dutch National Museum of Antiquities / Lucas P. Petit -- The Jordan Museum : storyteller of land and people / Yosha Alamri and Jihad Kafafi -- Perspectives from art museums -- Exhibiting interaction : displaying the arts of the ancient Middle East in their broader context / Joan Aruz and Yelena Rakic -- Negotiations in museum practice : a reinstalled gallery of ancient Middle Eastern art at the Detroit Institute of Arts / Swarupa Anila and Geoff Emberling -- An archaeological exhibition without archaeology? Joan Miró looks at Mesopotamian masterpieces / Pedro Azara and Marc Marín -- Perspectives from university museums -- "We are not an art museum" : presenting archaeological narratives at the Oriental Institute / John D.M. Green -- The Middle East Gallery at the Penn Museum : a curator's reflections on challenges and opportunities / Holly Pittman -- The archaeological museum of the American University of Beirut and its educational role : a case study / Leila Badre -- Beyond display : curriculum and community engagement with ancient Middle Eastern collections in a university museum / Andrew Jamieson and Annelies van de Ven -- Commentary -- Exhibiting ancient Middle Eastern art in America / Peter Lacovara.
Summary:
Museums and the Ancient Middle East is the first book to focus on contemporary exhibit practice in museums that present the ancient Middle East. Bringing together the latest thinking from a diverse and international group of leading curators, the book presents the views of those working in one particular community of practice: the art, archaeology, and history of the ancient Middle East. Drawing upon a remarkable group of case studies from many of the world's leading museums, including the British Museum, the Louvre, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Ashmolean Museum, and the Vorderasiatisches Museum in Berlin, this volume describes what curators have done in order to present a previously unseen side of the Middle East region and its history. Highlighting overlaps and distinctions between the practices of national, art and University museums around the globe, the contributors to the volume are also able to offer a unique insight into the types of challenges and opportunities facing the 21st-century curator. Museums and the Ancient Middle East should be of interest to academics and students engaged in the study of museums and heritage, archaeology, the ancient Near East, Middle Eastern studies and ancient history. The unique insights provided by curators active in the field ensure that the book should also be essential reading for museum practitioners around the globe.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.