The Mayans exhibition
Paris, France
MUSÉE DU QUAI BRANLY
Scenography: WILMOTTE & ASSOCIÉS
Graphism: E/N/T/ DESIGN
Cost consultant: CABINET IVANCICH
Control office: BUREAU VERITAS
1,900 sqm
2014-2015
Set design for the "Mayas, revelation of endless time" exhibition at the Musée du Quai Branly in Paris.
Exceptional in terms of its geographical and historical scope, the exhibition brings together 385 pieces, including some fifty masterpieces, and offers visitors a chance to discover the subtle beauty and technical sophistication of Mayan production, as well as its cultural and linguistic diversity.
The introductory area to the exhibition is devoted to the evocation of an ancient ritual. After a long walk beneath the ramp leading to the permanent exhibition, visitors enter a dark, bare room at the centre of which stands a monumental stone stele and a few offerings. This sequence, which aims to project the visitor into the heart of a Mayan ritual, is accentuated by the written and audio transcription of the text inscribed on the stele.
The exhibition is then divided into 6 sections. The museographic tour takes visitors inside a Maya pyramid. Voluntarily sober and minimalist, the scenography makes the most of the “garden gallery” to move from intimacy to monumentality and from darkness to light, but above all to underline the infinite richness and complexity of Maya culture.
