Populaire ?

The Mucem’s new semi-permanent exhibition, taking over from the “Connectivity” exhibition opened in November 2017. As the Mucem celebrates its tenth anniversary this year, it is a fitting opportunity to return to what lies at the heart of its identity and history: its collection. This permanent exhibition aims to present the collection in all its diversity. It brings together the historical holdings of the National Museum of Popular Arts and Traditions, the European collections of the Musée de l’Homme, and those acquired since the early 2000s in a desire to open up to the Mediterranean and the contemporary world. On the ground floor of the building, the Mucem’s permanent exhibition is designed as a space for discovery, highlighting the profoundly human nature of the objects and testimonies that make up this collection. It presents the “substance” of the museum, reveals both the semiotic character of the collection (what objects say about the society in which they were produced) and its aesthetic character, and makes it possible to read all the stories that led to the acquisitions, the life journeys of the objects, and what prompted their entry into the museum’s storage facilities, both in the past and today. The general tour follows a path through broad categories borrowed from the vocabulary of the history of art and technology (“painting,” “sculpture,” “metalwork,” “ceramics,” etc.). This approach brings out the distinctive features of the Mucem’s collection by breaking with the usual hierarchy between fine arts and popular arts. Visitors move from objects expected in a museum (for example, paintings, ex-votos, icons, etc.) to more surprising items (such as decorated beehive doors), and from objects familiar to the general public to elements that are more unexpected or initially even mysterious. Alongside the 1,200 objects and documents from the Mucem’s historical holdings or acquired more recently by the museum, an immersive digital mediation experience explores, through a selection of objects, the idea of “popular culture” that runs through its collections. The exhibition is curated by the Mucem’s scientific department and its entire conservation department. Set design: Sylvie Jodar Graphic design: Caroline Pauchant Lighting design: Thierry d’Oliveira Reis