sent from: London, UK. destination: Belmont, California, USA

If I asked the question – “which archaeologist excavated the Egyptian city of Tanis?” – the answer from some of a particular generation (mine) might be Abner Ravenwood, mentor to Indiana Jones, but the truth is that it was a British archaeologist with the no-less wonderful name of Flinders Petrie, in 1885. His many accomplishments over a long career are too numerous to list here, but his methods have defined the work of the modern archaeologist, and his legacy lives on in a packed yet modest museum on the upper floor of a building at UCL in London.
Maria and I, under the banner of Cosas Industries, contributed to a project that is being installed there this week. Called ‘Transforming Thresholds’, it’s a multi-site experiment to re-invent the space between the physical entrance to the museum and the exhibits themselves. Here it meant creating a story to lead the visitor up the otherwise plain entrance stairwell into the collection.
Imagine you’re climbing the stairs of a kindly uncle’s London home. You’ve heard he travelled, that he brought back artifacts from Egypt, and that they sit in his attic, but until now it’s rumour. Today you are going to see it for the first time, and as you climb the stairs, strange sounds surround you, images of the man you only know as an old man on site, vibrant, youthful. Then you reach the top of the stairs.. and enter…
The experiment will be running all week, if you are in the area of UCL, we highly recommend a visit to the museum.