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Past Exhibits

Explore past exhibits at the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology. Click through to see a range of shows featuring highlights from our vast collection of 3.8 million objects. Check out content available online from podcasts of past lectures to online exhibit guides and more.

Current

Fragment from Earth: Faculty Selections (TBA)

Featuring a Faculty Curated exhibition.

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New Perspectives on Etruscans at the Hearst Museum: Pasts, Present and Futures

This exhibit showcases one of the largest collections of Etruscan artifacts in North America, located at the Hearst Museum of Anthropology at UC Berkeley. The Etruscans w…

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Exploring California Indigenous Food & Practices Through Traditional Acorn Mush

An Interactive Game & Labels for Students Aged 6-8 This interactive game was developed by referencing The People’s Path by Ashley Chu as part of the History of Art 19…

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Understanding The Importance of Indigenous Foods

Indigenous food sovereignty in relation to the Klamath Basin Understanding The Importance of Indigenous Foods was created by Neha Shah as part of the History of Art 192CU…

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Decolonizing Early Learning

Teaching Young Children About Indigenous Cultures & Food Sovereignty Decolonizing Early Learning was created by Amanda Styles as part of the History of Art 192CU: Soc…

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Passing Down Indigenous Knowledge

Teaching Children About Indigenous Culture in Relation to Food Sovereignty This is the landing page for a digital exhibition curated by three undergraduate students in UC…

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Salvaged: The Hearst Museum, Colonialism, and Caring for the Past

This is the landing page for a digital exhibition curated by the students of UC Berkeley's Spring 2021 History of Art 192CU: Social Justice and Museum Studies. In the pur…

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Care & Resistance: A Case Study on the Philippine Revolution from Spanish to American Colonization

Care and Resistance was created by Keziah Aurin, Shannon Roughan, Isabel Shiao as part of History of Art 192CU: Social Justice and Museum Studies during Spring 2021. The…

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Rediscovering Ancient Women: Fragments of Their Lives from the Mediterranean Collections at the Hearst Museum of Anthropology

This exhibit draws on the collections of the Hearst Museum of Anthropology and was designed by the students in HIST 103 "Well-behaved Women," Professor Angelova's Spring…

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Empowering Engaged Thinkers: Student Discovery Stories from the Hearst Museum

Semester after semester, UC Berkeley undergraduates make rich discoveries at the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology. Hearst staff and faculty create a multitude of…

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Exploring Objects, Fears, and the Future

How can objects help people address concerns about the future? How have people sought to protect themselves in different times and places? Is there anything that people d…

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Uncovering Pacific Pasts

As part of a multinational project called “Uncovering Pacific Pasts,” the Hearst will be exhibiting a selection of pottery fragments created by one of the first peoples t…

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Collaborative Weaving Corner

“We weave together not just bits of fabric, but a shared vision of a cooperative society, where friendships among a diverse population can flourish, achieving a simple, u…

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Cloth that Stretches: Weaving Community Across Time and Space

Textile makers around the world do more than create vibrant fabrics for innumerable uses. Their creations stretch in countless ways. They reach back in time—revivi…

PAST:
Jan 3, 2023 -
Apr 22, 2023

Berkeley’s Orientalist Desire: Indigenism and the Colonial Fantasy

Berkeley’s Orientalist Desire: Indigenism and the Colonial Fantasy Since the early 1900’s, UC Berkeley Filipinx students have led decolonial projects to den…

PAST:
Oct 2, 2019 -
Jan 8, 2020

Sacred Deities of Ancient Egypt

The photographs in this exhibition have been selected from the book entitled Sacred Deities of Ancient Egypt, featuring writing and photography by Jacqueline Thurston.

PAST:
Aug 5, 2019 -
Oct 2, 2019

The Genesis of Leymusoom

August 5th, 2019 - October 2nd, 2019 On view in the lobby of Kroeber Hall About this Exhibit Initiated in 2017 by artist Heesoo Kwon, Leymusoom is an artistic, communal,…

PAST:
Apr 11, 2019 -
Sep 4, 2019

The Beauty of Indigenous Power: A Taiwanese Indigenous Poster Competition

The Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology is pleased to collaborate with the Shung Ye Museum of Formosan Aborigines in Taipei, Taiwan on this exhibit. These posters fea…

PAST:
Mar 15, 2019 -
Dec 15, 2019

Yarn Painting, Mexico, 3-28635

Pleasure, Poison, Prescription, Prayer: The Worlds of Mind-Altering Substances

If you take a sip of coffee, are you on drugs? If you have a sweet tooth, are you a sugar addict? If you try psychedelics, are you committing a crime? The Hearst invites…

PAST:
Jan 15, 2019 -
Apr 3, 2019

Through a Modern Lens

Last Fall, students of Art 15 visited the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology. The purpose of the course was to challenge students to use ceramics as a way to explore…

PAST:
Oct 11, 2018 -
Jan 17, 2019

Does a Dog Have Buddha Nature?

This exhibition is inspired by the well-known Zen kōan called Jōshū’s Dog: A monk asked the priest Jōshū, “Does a dog have buddha nature, or not?” Jōshū replied, “Mu!” Th…

PAST:
Sep 4, 2018 -
Oct 7, 2018

Faces of India: Markets, Merchants, and Artisans

As a humanist, Lerner believed in capturing candid images of people in their daily lives; as a materialist, he was interested in the objects that surrounded them: “I’ve a…

PAST:
May 1, 2018 -
Sep 14, 2018

Life and Resistance in Wallmapu

Wallmapu is the mapudungun (Mapuche language) name for the ancestral territory of the Mapuche people and nation, located in southern Chile and Argentina. Unlike many othe…

PAST:
Apr 1, 2018 -
Apr 15, 2019

Experimental Archaeology: Thatched Building Construction

Stop by the Hearst Museum's courtyard to experience experimental archaeology in action. Graduate student Joshua Varkel will be experimenting with thatched hut constructio…

PAST:
Mar 10, 2018 -
Dec 9, 2018

Face to Face: Looking at Objects That Look at You

March 10th - December 9th 2018 The Hearst staff and 14 UC Berkeley first-year students have co-curated a global selection of objects that depict human faces in different…

PAST:
Feb 15, 2018 -
Apr 2, 2018

This is What Democracy Looks Like

Curated by the SF Bay Area Urban Sketchers, these drawings chronicle resistance and demonstrations from the local (Bay Area, New York, Oregon) to the global (Turkey, Wale…

PAST:
Nov 9, 2017 -
Dec 15, 2019

HearstCAVE

This 3D visualization wall allows visitors to virtually explore archaeological sites around the world, and will ultimately be a space to interact with 3D models of object…

PAST:
Oct 24, 2017 -
Apr 30, 2018

Global Lives Project

The Global Lives Project is a unique video library that presents life experiences from cultures and communities around the world. Created by UC Berkeley faculty member an…

PAST:
Apr 3, 2017 -
Jan 21, 2018

People Made These Things: Connecting with the Makers of Our World

Why do we sometimes know a lot about who made things, and why do we sometimes not? Why does it sometimes matter to us, and why might it sometimes not? These are the que…

PAST:
Sep 7, 2011 -
Jul 1, 2012

Mercedes Dorame: Sinews

I am a Native American from California, the Gabrielino/Tongva tribe. Gabrielino, as named after the San Gabriel Mission and Tongva as a modern attempt to reclaim ownershi…

PAST:
Sep 1, 2011 -
Mar 31, 2012

Katsina: Contemporary Hopi Sculpture

For the Hopi, katsinas exist in three forms: spirits, masked dancers, and dolls. The spirits act as intermediaries between the supernatural and mortal worlds, fostering f…

PAST:
Jun 6, 2011 -
Jun 6, 2012

99 Bottles of Beer: Global Brewing Traditions 2500 B.C. to the Present

Beer—any undistilled liquid made from fermented starches—is perhaps the oldest and most widely consumed alcoholic beverage. Every region in the world has developed a trad…

PAST:
May 24, 2011 -
Jun 6, 2017

The Conservator's Art: Preserving Egypt's Past

Conservators are champions of the object world. Highly trained specialists, they play a crucial role in preserving for posterity the world’s diverse cultural heritage. Th…