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Fig. 1.
“Daily Life in
Antiquity”, Museum of
Cycladic Art, Athens.
An exhibition which
examines images of
ancient Greek art as
realistic representations
of life.
Fig. 2.
“A history in images”,
Museum of Cycladic
Art, Athens.
An exhibition which
explores the symbolic
aspects of ancient Greek
art.
in the life of an ancient Greek male, from birth to death. Designed
with explicit educational aims, in order to addresses wide audiences
and kids, this presentation is based on a positivist approach, where
ancient representational scenes are taken at face value as true depictions
of everyday activities. 19
On the 2nd floor of the same building, we set up an entirely different
exhibition, which lays emphasis on the socio-political conditions
that gave rise to the art of each period and tries to explore the symbolic
dimension of ancient imagery. Instead of viewing images on vases
and reliefs as realistic representations, we try to examine their social,
political or religious connotations (fig. 2).
For example, we examine the repertoire of Athenian vase-painting
in relation to the audience of such vases, female representations in
relation to wider ideas about gender roles in antiquity, and so on.
This presentation has been based on a relativist approach of the past,
and is meant to address a more informed audience, interested both
in ancient Greece and in issues of art and cognition. 20
Visitors have, thus, the chance to come in contact with two diverse
but not incompatible approaches to ancient Greek art. Each
of them offers a different point of view upon the same theme. The
experiment provides an example of how ancient artefacts can be
placed in multiple contexts of meaning, and represents an effective
type of interaction, as it motivates viewers to think actively and
make decisions about their own way of perceiving and signifying
the past. 21
I do agree, thus, that contextual approaches offer a methodologically
sound way to analyse past societies, but I also suggest suggest that
“context” should not be perceived only in a technical or geographical
sense. Social and artistic developments provide other types of
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