King Tut, or at least the exhibition of the same name, has come to Times Square. A recent review in the New York Times by Edward Rothstein explains that the show is raising money for Egyptian museums, and that doing so apparently means a more commercial focus than ever.
The New York show is hosted by “Discovery Times Square Exposition,” which is related to the Discovery Channel. (Discovery TSX, by the way, is promoted as “New York City’s first large-scale exhibition center.” No offense to Discovery – I am a fan of the TV programming – but I wonder what the large museums of the city, not to mention the Javits Center, must think of that particular claim.) The Metropolitan Museum, host of “Tut I”, the earlier show of years past that helped define the idea of a blockbuster exhibit, declined to host this time around.
The ticket price? $28. That’s a lot, even for a child king. An excerpt from the Times review after the break:
The show doesn’t really want us to become too aware of how diminished Tut’s stature becomes when we see him stripped of the tomb’s bountiful trappings: Tut is a commodity, not just a pharaoh. Mr. Hawass makes it clear that this exhibition also had an important purpose: it was to raise money for the restoration and construction of Egyptian museums. He took on the National Geographic Society as a collaborator, and, for the tour, contracted with Arts and Exhibitions International and AEG Exhibitions — both companies experienced with large-scale entertainment and marketing.
In 2005, when this show first began its tour, The Los Angeles Times reported that a $5 million fee was required from each site, along with additional large bonus sums for high attendance; half of all other revenue is also paid to Egypt. (Exhibition representatives would not discuss fees and income.)
By now some seven million people have seen the show in Los Angeles; Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; Chicago; Philadelphia; London; Dallas; and San Francisco; New York will probably boost the total attendance over the eight million level reached by the American tour of Tut I. This week Mr. Hawass announced that Egypt had earned $100 million so far (while also expressing dismay that Tut had not returned to the Met).
So Tut is a commercial enterprise, which is one reason it never really challenges you to go too deeply into things, not the least of which is the strange contrast between Tut as a slight historical figure and as the guardian of these immense riches.
