A journey through time

The MAS collection consists of some 500,000 objects that, altogether, tell the story of Antwerp and its relation with the world. For this exhibition escalators in the museum’s public promenade will not only take visitors up to the panoramic roof, they will also allow them to travel through time, discover and reflect on this history. An impressive selection of carefully curated photographs of the museum’s historic collection items were placed on high contrasting pattern backdrops. The unique black and white patterns the studio designed for each of the 8 floors refer to historic soil profile drawings. The museums high resolution documentation of the collection items allowed the studio to play with scale in the prints. The big blow ups of some of the tiny collection items offered new opportunities to discover details and craftsmanship from the past. Each floor displays the selected collection items of a certain time period within history. Starting at the oldest museum piece, the bones of the giant Antigoon, which are over five million years old, travelling through Egypt, the Mayan civilisation and the Schelde before the year 0. Each floor visitors discover more of the history of Antwerp before reaching the most recent collection items of the MAS on the 8th floor.

Pictures by Aad Hogendoorn