Virtual visits – Arts & Sciences – Musée de l’Homme, Paris

10 May 2021 by helena

In the context of a series of virtual visits, MDA-HAS organised a new online mediation session around the collections of the Musée de l’Homme, aimed at young people from the French organisation ‘Mission Locale de Paris’, on the 5th of May 2021. The virtual tour focused on the museum’s three main questions: who are we, where do we come from, where are we going?

The questions addressed are: What does it mean to be human? How, and from what angle, can we define the human being? It is also a question of questioning the place of the human being within the living world. Is it so different from non-human living beings? Can we question the notion of ‘consciousness’, ‘intelligence’, ‘language’ – with the help of a ‘de-anthropocentric’ and even ‘de-Westernised’ viewpoint, going beyond the traditional opposition between nature and culture? How do human beings in different cultures understand the world, society, the individual and identities? What is common? Can we replace the notion of ‘universal’ with that of ‘multiversal’?

In order to find the keys to a better understanding of current issues, we explored prehistory. There we discussed the evolution and adaptation of human beings, as well as their relationship with the environment. The last part of this session focused on the current issues facing humanity. Since humans have created this situation by strengthening their domination of the planet since the Neolithic era – up to and including globalisation – what responsibilities does this imply today? What is the future for a human being who is increasingly distanced from nature? Do transhumanism, digital technology and robotics represent relevant alternatives? What future can we still imagine?

These visits are available both in English and in French, and are curated for all ages.

This visit is adaptable to other institutions, internationally.

For further information please contact Aurore Nerrinck / contact@memoire-a-venir.org , Head of Research & Cultural Mediation, Mémoire de l’Avenir – Humanities Arts and Society