The meaning of culture and cultural traditions are explored in a new exhibit opening at Indiana University 's Mathers Museum of World Cultures on Saturday, November 5, from 2 to 6 p.m. Thoughts, Things, and Theories...What Is Culture? uses objects from around the world to show the way culture permeates all human lives.
Funded b y the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the exhibit focuses on two main themes: universal needs and life stages. Universal needs (food, clothing, and shelter, for example) are demonstrated in replicas of two households—a Bloomington ranch house from 1967 and a multigenerational family compound from northern Nigeria in the same year.
Visitors can then move into an exhibit area with artifacts illustrating life stages from birth and infancy to death and the afterlife, including a Lakota cradleboard, Japanese wedding kimono, and numerous other items from around the globe. The exhibit also features a hands-on activity station, computer kiosks with interactive programs, and a reading area.
T he exhibit opening celebration will offer children's activities, a reception with foods from around the world, and musical and dance performances including the Malena Tango Dancers and Banat Mora Middle Eastern Dance. The event also will mark the premiere of the Margaret Mead Traveling Film Festival, co-sponsored by the Department of Anthropology, the Department of Communication and Culture, and the Film Studies Program at Indiana University . Mead Festival films will be presented throughout the fall semester, but the exhibit opening celebration will feature Afghanistan Unveiled, a film exploring the effects of the Taliban's repressive rule and recent U.S. military campaign on Afghani women, and Madanm Ti Zo (Mrs. Littlebones), a look at the lives of Haitian women . The film showing will begin at 4 p.m., and will be held in the Glenn Black Laboratory of Archaeology Auditorium.
The Mathers Museum of World Cultures is located at 416 North Indiana Avenue , Bloomington . Its exhibit hall and Museum Store are open Tuesdays through Fridays, from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; and Saturdays and Sundays, from 1 to 4:30 p.m. Admission to the Museum is free.
Metered and IU Permit parking is available at the McCalla School parking lot on the corner of Ninth Street and Indiana Avenue. Parking is available on surrounding streets during the weekend. An access ramp is located at the corner of Ninth Street and Fess Avenue , at the entrance to the Glenn Black Laboratory of Archaeology adjoining the Mathers Museum . Reserved parking spaces are available on Ninth Street , between Fess Avenue and Indiana Avenue . Special arrangements can be made to accommodate most needs. Please call 812-855-1696 for assistance.
For more information, or to schedule a guided group tour, please call 812-855-6873 or e-mail mathers@indiana.edu .
