act of memory

A naked eye 3D pterosaur installation at Shanghai Natural History Museum

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Marble statue of a kouros (youth). Greece, Attica (ca. 590–580 BCE) stance derived from Egyptian art

Marble statue of the Diadoumenos (youth tying a fillet around his head) Roman (ca. 69–96 CE) Copy of Greek statue (ca. 450 BCE)

Marble statue of a wounded warrior perhaps Protesilaos. Roman (ca. 138–181 CE) Copy of a Greek bronze statue (ca. 460–450 BCE)

sources: 32.11.1 ; 253370 / 25.78.56 ; 251838 / 25.116 ; 251929

CENTRE - SEQUENCE 1 (Indian, 10th-13th century)

Standing Parvati. Copper Alloy. India (Tamil Nadu) (ca. first quarter 10th century)

[find later]

Tree Dryad (Shalabhanjika). Ferruginous stone. India (Orissa) (12th–13th century)

Celestial Beauty (Surasundari). Marble. India (southern Rajasthan) (11th century)

sources: 57.51.3 ; 39325 / ? / 65.108 ; 38140 / 69.247 ; 38148

CENTRE - SEQUENCE 2 (Buddha. Asian, 10th-18th century)

Copper alloy. India (Tamil Nadu, Nagapattinam) (11th–12th century)

Ivory with polychrome. Sri Lanka, Kandy district (18th century)

Copper alloy with gilding. Sri Lanka, central plateau (10th century)

Gilt bronze. Thailand (15th century)

sources: 2004.63 ; 72392 / 2010.475.5 ; 75408 / 1993.387.8 ; 39197 / 1991.423.5 ; 39175

CENTRE - SEQUENCE 3 (Egyptian, 1900-1400 BCE, 400-200 BCE. Thai, 11th century. Aztec, 14th-16th century. Luba, 19th-20th century.)

An ancestral king. Wood, formerly clad with lead sheet. Egypt (390–246 BCE)

Lupona (royal seat). Wood, glass beads, cotton fiber(?). Luba artist. (Late 19th century–early 20th century)

Kneeling Female Figure. Bronze inlaid with silver, traces of gold. Thailand (second half of the 11th century)

Nurse Sitsnefru. Gabbro or diabase, paint. Found in Turkey, Anatolia, Adana. Egyptian (ca. 1900 BCE)

Fertility goddess with floral band. Stone. Mexica (Aztec) (1325–1521 CE)

Hatshepsut. Granite. Egypt (ca. 1479–1458 BCE)

Amenhotep II. Limestone. Egypt (ca. 1427–1400 BCE)

Hatshepsut. Granite. Egypt (ca. 1479–1458 BCE)

sources: 2003.154 ; 547689 / 1978.412.317 ; 310760 / 39096 / 18.2.2 ; 544176 / 1979.206.1386 ; 313579 / 30.3.1 ; 544448 / 13.182.6 ; 546745 / 30.3.2 ; 544447

CENTRE - SEQUENCE 4 (Christ. European, mostly French, 12th-14th century)

Copper, gilt; champlevé enamel. French (ca. 1185–95)

Copper alloy, gilt. French or British (ca. 1125–50)

Diptych. Elephant ivory. German (ca. 1375–1400) crucifixion pose follows 14th century Paris Gothic ivory workshop design (note almost identical French (ca. 1350–75): 50.195 ; 468339)

Tabernacle. Copper, gilt; champlevé enamel. French (ca. 1220–1230)

Copper alloy, gilt. German or South Netherlandish (ca. 1140–60)

Tabernacle. Copper, gilt; champlevé enamel. French (ca. 1200–1210)

Chasse. Copper, gilt; champlevé enamel; glass cabochons. French (ca. 1235–45)

Copper alloy, gilt. French (ca. 1150)

sources: 17.190.409a ; 464392 / 17.190.760 ; 464620 / 32.100.203 ; 467473 / 17.190.735 ; 464604 / 17.190.408a ; 464390 / 41.100.184 ; 467756 / 1974.228.1 ; 465977 / 17.190.763 ; 464623

“All Creative Work is Derivative” (2010) original animation on youtube creation process

Austronesians did also rely on a form of a physical map called a stick chart, illustrating the specific wave and swell patterns surrounding different island chains. These were particularly helpful during cloudy conditions when the sun and stars were less useful. To navigate the Marshall Islands, the Marshallese represented ocean swell patterns using parts of coconut fronds and shells as islands. Like a subway map, they don’t so much represent distances as they do relationships. The complex and decorative stick charts were often only understood by the person who made them. They were memorised before a voyage by the pilot who would lie on the floor of a canoe to get a sense of swell movement and often lead a squadron of 15 or more boats.

Glass jug, Roman Syria or Palestine, 4th-early 5th century AD