50 Manuscript, syllabary. Nakhi, China. 19th century. © Museu de Cultures del Món, Barcelona. Photo: Pep Herrero. MUSEUM news WRITING Barcelona—Three months after opening its doors to the public, The Museu de Cultures del Món is inaugurating the first of an ambitious series of temporary shows with Escriptures. Símbols, paraules, poders (Writing. Symbols, Words, Powers), a broad-ranging exhibition that examines the origins of writing—or rather of writings—along with their relationships to spoken words, their symbolism, their graphic evolution, and the importance they have had in various societies the world over. Developed under the supervision of linguist, semiologist, and specialist in the anthropology of communication Miguel Peyró, the exhibition is divided into six parts and features objects from major civilizations of antiquity, including those of Mesopotamia, Egypt, China, and Mesoamerica, as well as from cultures that developed more recently on all five inhabited continents. Escriptures will be on view from May 21, 2015, through January 31, 2016. NIGERIA REVISITED Geneva—Following its success with the much acclaimed Nudités insolites (Unusual Nudes) exhibition, which was extended through February 28, 2015, Geneva’s Barbier- Mueller Museum will open a new temporary exhibition on March 20, this one devoted to the specific region of Nigeria. The show does not attempt to be an exhaustive study of the vast array of artistic traditions that have developed across this huge geographic region and over a period of thousands of years. Instead, Arts of Nigeria Revisited takes a critical look at the understanding that we in the West believe we have of its creations. The question is not obvious because all too often, as anthropologist Nigel Barley points out in his introduction to the catalog, “the problem … is that the objects in question remain desperately silent when they do not simply say what we want them to say.” The exhibition includes some 120 works with exceptional aesthetic qualities drawn from the museum’s collection. These pieces were either recently acquired or were not included in the sale of important Nigerian works made by the Barbier-Mueller Museum to the nation of France in 1996 and 1997, the fruits of which are now housed in the Musée du Quai Branly. Perhaps the most striking masterpieces in the show are a number of the Cross River masks along with several of the terracotta and iron works that are representative of the finest art produced by the Kingdom of Ife. Left: Ancestral screen. Ijo, Kalabari, Nigeria. Wood, textile, pigment. H: 140 cm. Above: Head crest. Ejagham, Cross River, Nigeria. Wood, leather, fiber. H: 71.5 cm. Right: Ceremonial fan. Yoruba, Nigeria. Brass. H: 48.5 cm. Below: Scepter. Ife, Nigeria. 12th–13th century. Copper alloy. H: 61.4 cm. All above © Musée Barbier- Mueller, Geneva. Photo: Studio Ferrazzini Bouchet.
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