On Friday 26th November, Year Eight Museum Council students, with amazing support from Sixth Form Museum Council volunteers, ran their own gallery themed on the Greek Underworld. The students spent few weeks planning stalls and activities, and preparing displays and costumes. They were finally able to put all their efforts and plans into practice on Friday evening!
Lots of visitors were welcomed into the Greek Underworld at the entrance to the Ashmolean by Melinoe, Persephone and others. There was an elm tree where visitors could hear about the false dreams that hid under its leaves at the underworld's entrance. People could make their own dream-catchers here to hang them on the elm tree or take them home. Visitors at the entrance could also make an obol based on replicas on display from the Rumble Museum's collection, and pick up a passport!
Next on the journey, visitors met the dreaded Charon on the river Acheron by his boat, anchored up and waiting for his payment of an obol! Nearby, there was a stall themed on the river Lethe, which caused all who drank of its waters to forget their former lives. Appropriately, enough, here guests could play a memory card game, and meet some ghosts and Minos, one of the three judges of the Underworld.
Next up was a games stall, where visitors could take a quiz on Greek mythology, and play a bowling game to knock over characters from the Underworld. This stall was run by Cerberus and a Hundred-handed creature! Across the way, Medusa was busy running a jewellery stall, where people could make a range of rings, earrings and necklaces, or have Medusa make one for them.
Next to this, a harpy was running a drawing stall where people could imagine the underworld on paper! Opposite this, Hades was running an artefact storytelling story about some of the people who have entered the Underworld in Greek myth or been imprisoned there, like Orpheus, Tantalus and Sisyphus.
Finally, there were large display boards featuring stories created by Year Eight Latinists about the Underworld for visitors to enjoy!
As well as the inventive costumes, activities and displays run in their Greek Underworld Gallery, the Year Eight Museum Council had thought of a range of questions to ask Ai-Da, a robot who appeared at the Dante Late Night Opening to do a reading of some of her Dante-inspired poetry. The Year Eights were the only group in the evening to be in conversation with her, and they were invited up to a microphone to ask her questions such as "do you believe in God?", "what was your first memory?" and "who is your favourite artist?", to "what is your favourite colour?", "do you feel emotions?" and "do you speak any other languages?".
Ai-da greeted each student and gave answers to the questions. She stated that she didn't have emotions or memories like humans do, but she did have a favourite pair of colours - green and blue - because they were connected to nature, and she had concepts of friendship and definitions of memories and emotions like fear, even if she didn't experience them. It was a really fascinating way to start the evening, and footage of the conversation with Ai-Da will be appearing soon!
