Galleries of Marvel

The human body is a central motif in the creation of art. Human figures do not always represent specific individuals but occasionally also abstract ideas or beings from other worlds. At the same time, abstract representation may also refer to actual people in real life. And not everything is recognised as a human being right away either.

Faces as reflected in masks play a vital role in communication. A face inevitably stirs up emotions and often requires just a few hints to become a clear message. All it takes are a few lines and dots for a ☺ to have an effect on us.

Museums turn things into objects. This also means that they are integrated according to various categories, some of which bear no relationship to the original function and significance of the objects in their societies of origin.    

Nevertheless, these categories may also reveal quite surprising connections between objects. The instruments on display, for example, are divided into four categories of sound production: membranophones (causing a membrane to vibrate), aerophones (causing a body of air to vibrate), idiophones (causing the instrument as a whole to vibrate), and chordophones (causing strings to vibrate). It might come as a surprise that something made from an infinite number of combined rhythms and melodies could be based on just four basic principles of physics.

Ethnographic museums claimed to present the material culture of a society as a whole. Certain objects could only be collected to a limited extent due to their sheer size. In the early nineteenth century, museums instead began to have models of such objects made to close this collection gap.    

Buildings and boats serve as symbols of sedentism and mobility, of ties to a certain place and freedom. At the same time, however, they also refer to the relationship between a society and its environment.