As ancient tiles, pillars, and sculptures stretch from floor to ceiling and tall piles of rocks form magical shapes, new exhibits representing two periods await exploration and discovery at the Davis Museum this fall. Each invites visitors to journey through time and learn the significance of ancient and modern works of art.
September 24 marked the museum’s opening reception for the fall semester, and laughter and conversation filled the Davis Museum lobby and patio as community members gathered to celebrate. Before they headed into the galleries, Dina Deitsch, the new Ruth Gordon Shapiro Class of ’37 Director at the Davis Museum, welcomed them and spoke of the College’s long-standing relationship with the arts. Deitsch said she was excited for everyone to experience “the pacing and installation of these two beautiful, remarkable projects”: Excavating Antioch: The Archaeology of an Ancient City, in the Chandler and Bronfman galleries on the lowest level, and Shi: Stories in Stone, in the Levine Gallery on the second floor.
Excavating Antioch, one of the Davis Museum’s largest exhibits to date, places over 140 artifacts beside photographs, films, maps, letters, documents, and more. These materials help visitors understand and “see not only the ancient objects but also the circumstances in which those objects were excavated and documented,” said Associate Curator of Collections Nicole Berlin, who curated the exhibit. The photos of the archaeological sites wrap around the many walls, making visitors feel as though they are part of the excavation of this ancient world.
Those archival materials also reveal what brought the artifacts to American museums. Berlin pointed to “the legal and economic framework” surrounding archaeological practices in the 1930s and ’40s that resulted in artifacts being dispersed among institutions in several countries. Examining that history, she explained, allows visitors to consider “archaeology, collecting, and cultural heritage in ways that are still very relevant.”
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The Chinese character shi (石) means “stone” or “rock,” and the "Shi: Stories in Stone" exhibit reflects the many shapes, materials, and disciplines that go into collecting. -
Both exhibits will be on view through the 2026–27 academic year.
Berlin also emphasized that the exhibition concerns what still exists, not just an ancient civilization. “Antioch is not just an ancient city,” she said in an interview before the opening. “It is Antakya, a modern city in Turkey where people still live, work, and study.” That connection gives the exhibition particular weight after the area faced devastating destruction from the 2023 earthquakes. “It is about a place that continues to have a history and a community today,” Berlin said.
Shi: Stories in Stone is curated by Kemper Assistant Curator of Collections and Academic Affairs Yuhua Ding. The Chinese character shi (石) means “stone” or “rock,” and the exhibit reflects the many shapes, materials, and disciplines that go into collecting.
One section of the collection focuses on gender and race in rock gardens, tying traditional stone imagery and garden settings to patriarchal structures and boundaries in both academia and Chinese culture. It takes something that has been integral to Chinese culture for over 2,000 years and expands on its restrictive elements. Art and academia have not always been inclusive, but looking at them critically provides an opportunity to engage with history and learn from it.
Like Excavating Antioch, Shi encompasses a variety of media. Although stones, fossils, and minerals are the focus of the exhibit, anyone can find art in nature and therefore anyone can practice the art of shi. The modern artists represented in the exhibit use tools that didn't exist in ancient China to push perspectives on how to engage with nature and capture it, and these are collected and prized. As the Davis writes in the Shi exhibition text, we “seek out qishi (strange stones) and guaishi (odd stones) for their unusual forms. They call their prized stones gongshi (offering stones) to show their reverence.” Shi goes beyond visual art, working through painting pigments, memory anchors, and symbols across time.
The multimedia platforms of these exhibits inspire viewers to wonder what it was like to walk and live in ancient Turkey and China. People crouched down to be level with the ancient paths, used magnifying glasses to inspect the smaller tools and specimens, and even wrote and drew on little cards about the many forms shi takes in their lives.
In her remarks at the opening, Provost and Lia Gelin Poorvu ’56 Dean of the College Courtney Coile described exhibitions like this one as interdisciplinary learning opportunities, noting that visitors can learn about geology, computer science, archaeology, political science, and many other fields of study just from visiting Excavating Antioch and Shi.
“Objects can take on different meanings depending on the context in which we encounter them,” Berlin said, speaking of Excavating Antioch, though her words apply to Shi as well. “I would encourage people to come with an open mind and to spend some time with both the artifacts and the archival material.” The way the artifacts are presented and have been placed, she said, makes it “an exploration of ancient material culture, and also as an opportunity to think about how archaeological knowledge and museum collections are created.”