Mary Beard's Bronze Age 'museum' heads to Firstsite

Mary Beard’s Bronze Age “museum” at Frieze London last year drew crowds who were fascinated by the display of “artefacts” on the Hauser & Wirth stand. The presentation, co-developed by the esteemed professor of Classics at the University of Cambridge, is now on show at the Firstsite gallery in Colchester (Bronze Age c. 3500-AD2018; 17 March-28 October). Sally Shaw, the director of Firstsite, visited the Bronze Age presentation at Frieze and then approached the gallery about re-staging the booth. “Bronze Age is an extraordinary collection of works and objects put together with great skill, humour and attention to detail—right down to the slightly grubby carpet tiles and greying plug sockets," Shaw told us. The museological presentation is a mischievous mix of historical artefacts, bronze items purchased on eBay and contemporary works made of bronze (Subodh Gupta’s Mona Lisa and Phyllida Barlow’s cast paint sticks are dotted amongst the more aged gems). Don't miss also the Roman floor at the centre of the display, the magnificent Berryfield mosaic which dates from AD150. This playful presentation brings to mind pithy regional shows held in museums countrywide (indeed, themes such as Trade & Agriculture and Domestic Life evoke Sunday afternoons in sleepy institutional hollows). Beard collaborated on the original fictional Bronze Age presentation with Neil Wenman, senior director at Hauser & Wirth.