Cranbrook Institute of Science unveils its largest new installation in more than a decade when the high-tech Hall of Global Cultures and exhibit entitled The Story of Us opens to the public October 17.
Located in the former Life Lab Gallery space, The Story of Us showcases the very best of the Institute’s nationally-regarded anthropology collection and offers an immersion experience unprecedented at Cranbrook. Visitors will experience the exhibition with the help of a virtual holographic-like personal guide and use individual touch-screen interfaces to learn more about objects that interest them.
Referencing more than 300 stunning cultural objects from around the world, “Meg,” the virtual guide, encourages us to better understand the human story by examining a wide range of global material culture including vessels, hunting and fishing tools, clothing, jewelry, armor, masks, religious paraphernalia and more.
Highlights among the objects include:
Hunting, gathering, cooking and storage vessels, and associated tools from six continents;
One of only a handful of exact replicas of the Coronation Throne of Tutankhamen in the world, purchased by Cranbrook founders George and Ellen Booth during a visit to Egypt at the time of the discovery of King Tut’s tomb;
A complete 18th Century lacquer suit of Japanese Samurai armor;
Shrines, mummified animals and masks from around the world used in religious worship;
The shrunken head of a European explorer of the type that was commonly collected by world travelers into the middle of the 20th century.
The Hall of Global Cultures and The Story of Us are free with admission Membership and are provided thru the generous support of Susan Flint Cooper.
