Symposium: Ancient Vases in Modern Showcases

Program

Too often, Greek ceramics are exhibited as self-explanatory, aesthetically pleasurable objects of art, standing alone and apart, accompanied by text displays only offering straightforward analyses of the depiction, the dating, the hand of the painter and the place of origin. Yet, over the last decades museums have changed and scholars have broadened the field of (iconographic) pottery studies, bringing new perspectives to the discipline and these objects. Furthermore, current museum practice deals with the complex history of collecting Greek vases and issues concerning provenance.

Over the last decade, the voices that contest the Greco-Roman monopoly of antiquity and plea for a more diverse past have become louder and louder. Museums can play an important part to alter the narratives on ‘Classical’ collections in the public domain, but are they listening to and anticipating on new scholarship? During the symposium we roam the field of a specific object category, ancient Greek ceramics, and a specific museum context, that of the ‘classical’ archaeological exhibit. The aim is to re-negotiate the stories we tell with pots in the museum space and explore possibilities for innovative presentation rooted in contemporary research, bringing together museum professionals, academic researchers and graduate students, and aiming at richer and more layered and diverse future presentations of antiquity.

Laurien de Gelder, curator of the archaeological collections of the Greek World and the Ancient Near East, Allard Pierson – l.i.degelder@uva.nl
Vladimir Stissi, professor Classical Archaeology, University of Amsterdam – v.v.stissi@uva.nl

Petra Huijgen