L'art de manger

Cooking, eating, drinking—these activities may seem mundane to some, but they play an important role in such highly symbolic practices as marriages, births, initiations, and funerary rites. When ritualized, the act of eating becomes an activity that requires special utensils, as varied as they may be refined: dishes, bowls, cups, spoons, and ladles, to mention but a few. Food, the foundation for any group’s survival and its members’ well-being, also allows man to relate to the beings of other realms. These practices and the multitude of objects associated with them will be the subject of L’Art de Manger: Rites et Traditions (The Art of Eating: Rites and Traditions), on view at the Musée Dapper from October 15, 2014–July 12, 2015.

Visit the exhibition's official website.  

Images courtesy of the Musée Dapper

TABU?! Verborgene Kräfte - Geheimes Wissen

Through April 7, 2013, the Niedersächsisches Landesmuseum Hannover is presenting TABU?! Verborgene Kräfte - Geheimes Wissenan (Taboo? Hidden Powers - Secret Knowledge), an exceptional assemblage of works from a wide range of traditional cultures which all have a function in dealing with social and cultural tensions and crisis situations. From a Siberian shaman's costume collected in 1788 to a Micronesian Mortlock Island mask, the objects on display evoke a variety of ritual contexts, the true understanding of which was the exclusive province of initiates.

View the exhibition's official website.

Information and images courtesy of the Niedersächsisches Landesmuseum Hannover