NEW YORK— A new exhibit celebrating the ancient pharaoh King Tut is about to land in several cities with a very modern twist — taking a digital look at the boy king for the Instagram age.
Not a single golden treasure or artifact from the tomb is on view at “Beyond King Tut: The Immersive Experience.” Instead, high-resolution digital projections of Tutankhamun’s world are splashed along high walls and floors as visitors walk through nine galleries that chart his life, death and times.
“The culture of ancient Egypt and modern Egypt is one that we know has been endlessly fascinating to our audiences, not just in the United States but around the world. So the question became, how do we tell this story through a 2022 lens?” says Kathryn Keane, vice president of public experiences for the National Geographic Society, which is helping produce the show.
The exhibit coincides with the 100th anniversary of the tomb’s discovery, a watershed moment in archeology. “Beyond King Tut” opens Friday in New York City and is already open in Washington, D.C., with openings in Los Angeles and Vancouver planned for Nov. 4, and plans for Atlanta, Houston, San Diego and San Francisco.
The New York show is at the massive Pier 36 event space — once home to 25 basketball courts — and uses 25,000 square feet (2322.58 square meters) to show Tut’s burial chamber, explore his family tree, how he was prepared for mummification, the treasures he was buried with and even his impact on popular culture. An introductory film presented in an archeologist’s tent starts the process off, and all of it is very social media friendly.
There are a few replicas of the 5,400 items found in Tut’s tomb, including his modest throne and a sleek Egyptian sailing vessel, whose sail provides a screen for projections. A block of stone becomes his shrine, a place where projections show his various coffins and his magnificent golden burial mask. Visitors can also play a board game that ancient Egyptians enjoyed — one of five board games found in his tomb — called senet, a sort of precursor to backgammon.
“I always think it’s interesting, particularly for kids, to show them that people 3,000 years ago were maybe not all that different than they are,” says Keane. “It helps audiences connect with a time in history that is so long ago that it’s almost hard to imagine.”
Online: https://beyondkingtut.com