Introduction
In the Johns Hopkins master’s in museum studies program, one of the courses a student can enroll in is Exhibition Strategies. The purpose of the class is to introduce the diverse strategies and approaches used in exhibition planning, development, and implementation. Also, students spend much of the semester working together in small teams, collaboratively producing a comprehensive exhibition project.
In the Fall semester of 2020, I participated in Exhibition Strategies and was partnered with four teammates, Joanne Sidlovsky Grant, Lindsay Nathanson, Melinda Skinner, and Michele Stewart. In the course, we were “mock professionals” from the Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology and were expected to utilize the Penn’s permanent collection to create an exhibition focused on the theme of “justice.” To produce this exhibition, our team, otherwise known as the Blue Group, met weekly via ZOOM to design, write, and virtually curate our exhibition.
While working on this exhibition, I learned the University of Southern Indiana had cylinder seals. With our class project in mind and potentially having objects for display, I pitched our Blue Group exhibition project to the Art Committee at the Evansville Museum. The committee voted to allow the exhibition and we were granted space in the John Streetman III Alcove. Once accepted, the University of Southern Indiana generously loaned their objects to the Evansville Museum, and the Blue Group traveled to the Evansville Museum to install the exhibition.
I hope our readers take a moment to learn about our exhibition and the people who made it a reality. Please enjoy the informal discussion in the video at the bottom of this blog and scroll through the photo slideshow.
We appreciate your viewership and hope to see you at the Museum!
Tory Schendel Cox
The Virginia G. Schroeder Curator of Art
About the Exhibition
Justice: Mesopotamian Heritage and Modern Interpretations
Generously Sponsored by The Lewis Berman Foundation
This exhibition developed from a class project at Johns Hopkins University. Five graduate students— Joanne Sidlovsky Grant, Lindsay Nathanson, Melinda Skinner, Tory Schendel Cox, and Michele Stewart—created this installation as a proposal for the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. With the theme of justice, the group paralleled Mesopotamian law codes, or the Code of Hammurabi, to the American Constitution and Bill of Rights. By examining the Mesopotamian and American judiciary articles, we demonstrated that America assimilated Mesopotamian governance.
Since cuneiform writing was not deciphered until the late 19th century, it was assumed that America embraced only the Greco-Roman style of government. However, once scholars decoded cuneiform writings, it was discovered that the Romans assimilated the Code of Hammurabi, through the Law of the Twelve Tables, and thus impacted the American Constitution and Bill of Rights. Not only is this relationship significant, but this exhibition also highlights a prominent cultural connection between Middle Easterners and Americans. As tensions have risen between Middle Easterners and Americans since the early 2000s, it is important to reflect on the contributions of different cultures that have shaped America.
Furthermore, as one experiences the Mesopotamian legal documents on display and learn about their impact on the American judiciary system, similar artifacts united two unlikely groups during a period of conflict. In 2003, American troops were deployed to Iraq. Of the squads in-country, Col. Matthew Bogdanos inspired his team of Marines to stop the plundering of artifacts, such as cylinder seals and tablets, from The Iraq Museum. Due to this partnership, Col. Bogdanos and his men worked alongside Iraqi citizens to repatriate stolen artifacts.
We thank the Johns Hopkins University Master of Arts in Museum Studies student graduates for developing this exhibition and the University of Southern Indiana, University Art Collections, and The Vyvoda Family Trust for loaning artifacts to create this installation. We extend our sincerest gratitude to The Lewis Berman Foundation for sponsoring this exhibition.
Enjoy a slideshow of the exhibition below.
