Children Just Like Me
Children Just Like Me is an engaging, hands-on exhibit that invites young museum visitors to learn about the diversity of world cultures by meeting peers who live in different countries around the globe. In addition, this unique exhibit also reveals how many children, regardless of where they live, hold important aspects of life in common.
Exhibit Preview (news)
Calypso Music in Postwar America: Photographs and Illustrations, 1945-1960
Calypso Music in Postwar America explores the major impact of Trinidadian calypso on the popular culture of the United States between 1945 and 1960. Rare photographs and promotional graphics are used to trace calypso in phonograph recordings, song publishing, nightclub acts, concerts, Broadway shows and Hollywood movies.
Qak'aslem, Qakem: Kaqchikel Maya Weavings
Three Maya woven textiles, each piece representing a different village in the Kaqchikel-speaking region of Guatemala, are featured in this exhibit of recent acquisitions. One of these pieces, a po't (shirt) of brilliant flowers, is a commissioned work, woven for the Museum by Magda Silvia Sotz Mux of San Juan Comalapa.
Ancient Egypt: The Origins
Some of the most fundamental and fascinating aspects of the ancient Egyptian civilization can only be understood by looking deep into Egypt's past. Hallmarks of Egyptian culture - from pyramids and hieroglyphic writing to the belief in the afterlife and fervent nationalism - can be traced in an unbroken line back to Egypt's earliest periods. this exhibition explores the prehistoric Nile Valley and illustrates the origins of ancient Egypt through its material culture. "Ancient Egypt: The Origins" features artifacts on loan by the Brooklyn Museum. The exhibit is supported in part by the Center for South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies and the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency. The exhibit is curated by Douglas Brewer.
Uncovering Life's Third Domain: The Discovery of Archaea
This exhibit showcases some of the original tools used by Professor Carl R. Woese, 2003 recipient of the Crafoord Prize, and the team of scientists at the University of Illinois-Champaign who conducted groundbreaking work in the use of molecular signatures to map the evolutionary history of life. The work of this team led, eventually, to the discovery of the Archaea, the third domain of life.
Why Knot?
For at least 20,000 years, human beings have manipulated fibers of many kinds to construct objects that are highly diverse in form and function. In Why Knot? the Spurlock Museum celebrates these artifacts and the skilled craftspeople who create them.
Exhibit Preview (news) | Exhibit Interactive (online resource)
Where Animals Dance
Where Animals Dance is a discussion of contemporary masquerading traditions of West Africa, featuring masks and related shrine artifacts and focusing on the place of these traditions in belief, social structure, and daily life. The ethnicities being discussed include Bamana, Baga, Nuna, Toma, and Bobo. The exhibit also includes discussion of the Ciwara complex, age sets, secret societies, and initiation practices.
Rainforest Visions
This exhibition focuses on artistic representations by contemporary South American indigenous people of ecological, mythical, and cosmic spirit forces in their lives. The focal people whose myths and narratives provide the basis for the imagery are the Canelos Quichua of Amazonian Ecuador. Complementary artifacts come from the Achuar, Tigua, and Chachi of Ecuador, the Shipibo-Conibo of Peru, the Waounam and Emberá of Colombia and Panama, the Tukuna of Colombia and Brazil, and the Yekuana of Venezuela.
Visions of the Unseen: Picturing Balinese Ceremony and Myth
Explore a collection of paintings and sculptures that reveals the link between an invisible world of gods and demons and the visible world of Balinese people, ceremony, and everyday life.
Performance Highlight (news)
Digging Barbarians
Historians talk about the "decline and fall" of the Roman Empire. But during the chaotic period between 400 and 500 CE, the line between Roman and barbarian were often blurred. Learn more about this interesting period of history in the exhibit Digging Barbarians, located in the Museum's Gallery of European Cultures. The exhibit focuses on life in early medieval France with highlighted artifacts from the Museum's extensive collection from this period.
Exhibit Opening (news)
Following the Paper Trail from China to the World
Paper is integral to every aspect of human life. Following the Paper Trail from China to the World tracks paper from its invention in China to its modern uses around the world.
Exhibit Preview (news)
A Celebration of Souls: Day of the Dead in Southern Mexico
This colorful bilingual exhibition examines the complex and rich histories of honoring the dead in ancient Mesoamerica, the labor of love involved in these diverse rituals, and the spiritual importance of this holiday in rural Mexico today.
Exhibit Preview (news) | Dance Performances (news)
Illinois: An Epic Landscape
The exhibit Illinois: An Epic Landscape highlights the stunning array of biological diversity found in Illinois, and targets the unique Cache River basin.
Exhibit Opening (news) | Natural History Activity Day (news)
The American Indian Center of Chicago Celebrates 50 Years of Powwow
Through images, videos, and artifacts, the exhibit highlights the vibrant sights and sounds of this American Indian arts and culture celebration.
Exhibit Opening (news) | Exhibit Conclusion (news)
Korean Dolls: A Celebration of Life
Korean dollmakers come together each year to display their unique creations: vibrant, mulberry paper dolls fashioned to depict important events and scenes of everyday life. This exhibit displays the creations of Soon Oak Kim, whose dolls have been shown throughout Korea.
Exhibit Opening (news) | Korean Dollmaking Demonstration (news)
Luxurious Layers: Kimonos of the Heian Court
The sense of Heian style and color are beautifully reflected in the multi-layered kimono worn by members of the Court. Kimono creation and symbolism, court life, and the modern continuation of kimono traditions are topics discussed among the layers of wondrous silk on display.
Beethoven and the Creative Process
This exhibit illuminates this extraordinary creative process through first edition scores and sketches from a major work, the Missa solemnis. A lock of the composer's hair will also be on display.
Exhibit Opening (news)
Trading in the Bronze Age
This exhibit discusses sea trade among the cultures of the Mediterranean and highlights the archaeological work that has uncovered material evidence for this era of history.
Exhibit Opening (news) | Exhibit Closing (news)
The Horowitz Collection of Memorial Brass Rubbings
Starting early in the 13th century, the wealthy of England began using brass engravings as grave markers. The images in this exhibit take their name, brass rubbings, from the process of rubbing wax against paper placed over the original brasses, and provide a visual record of 350 years of these engravings.