The international mission, which in October 2016 discovered two little-known cavities in the pyramid of Cheops, is invited to exhibit at the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Lille.
Child mummy, dating from Roman times.
A moving mummy of a child sleeping in its sarcophagus, statuettes of mourners with their bodies contorted by grief and, a few steps away, a large touch table offering a virtual tour of the Giza plateau:organized around the international ScanPyramids mission, the exhibition at the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Lille offers a dizzying journey through time.
The pyramid of Cheops? "From afar, two lines, up close, chaos"
ScanPyramids, an international mission coordinated by the Faculty of Engineering in Cairo and the HIP Institute (Heritage, Innovation, Preservation), has been exploring the pyramids of Egypt since October 2015 using non-invasive technologies. Thanks to an inventive staging, the museum's collections are revitalized by the proximity of these very innovative tools. While the Egyptology of yesterday is questioned by that of today. A volume of the "Description of Egypt", published in the 19th century after Bonaparte's expedition, opened on an engraving from the great gallery of Kheops, thus rubs shoulders with the photographs of Philippe Bourseiller or the works of the famous cartoonist François Schuiten who both accompany ScanPyramids scientists in the field.
"We wanted to show in its entirety this project which, like the old expeditions, associates researchers and artists" , explains the curator of the exhibition, Fleur Morfoisse. François Schuiten, like Vivant Denon before him, first director of the Louvre, spent hours taming this "extraordinary object" with the tip of his pencil. what is the Great Pyramid. "From afar, he says, two lines, up close, chaos" . Before adding:"The drawing brings another look at the monuments. While the scientific instruments analyze it in real time, I work over time. I sit down, I watch the sun move, animate the stones, and I render the whole thing in a single drawing". The best time is then in the evening, when the team is all together. "It's time for a 'ping pong', an enlightening dialogue between 'scientists who dream' and 'artists who have the soul of scientists".
ScanPyramids:Journey to the Beyond
In addition to François Schuiten and Philippe Bourseiller, whose large-format photographs capture the mineral geometry of the monuments in a striking way, the painter Alexandre Obolensky and the musician Nicolas Godin took part in the mission. Fascinated by the particular acoustics of Kheops – "we reconnect with the origins of sound", in his words - the co-founder of the group Air imagines being able to "reinvent" it with his own instruments. "When we think about the digital preservation of heritage, people tend to focus on architecture and 3D data. Nicolas opens up a new field of exploration for us around the digitization of the acoustic footprint" , underlines Mehdi Tayoubi, co-director of the mission.
Infrared, virtual reality, muography:the techniques developed by ScanPyramids are presented side by side with the works of the artists. A cloud chamber makes it possible to “visualize” the cosmic particles thanks to which the mysterious constructions are x-rayed. While, in a poetic perspective, a canvas by Alexandre Obolensky shows François Schuiten drawing at the foot of the rafters of Kheops. Even where thanks to these particles the mission detected in October a cavity sinking towards the heart of the pyramid!
PRACTICAL INFORMATION “ScanPyramids Mission, An unprecedented exploration of the pyramids”
December 10, 2016 - February 12, 2017
Lille Palace of Fine Arts Place de la République, 59000 Lille
Open Monday from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday to Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Wednesday 21 December 2016, at 2.30 p.m.:Fun museum “The mystery of the mummy”, with the Collectif de la Girafe.
Wednesday 18 January 2017, at 6.30 p.m.:public meeting with the actors of the ScanPyramids project.
More information:www.hip.institute, www.scanpyramids.org and on the PBA Lille website.