Review: Beyond King Tut digs deep into the boy king's life and beyond through immersive effects
The exhibition coincides with the 100th anniversary of the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb
Beyond King Tut: The Immersive Experience. Photo courtesy Beyond King Tut
Paquin Entertainment Group and Immersive Experiences in partnership with the National Geographic Society present Beyond King Tut: The Immersive Experience at Vancouver Convention Centre East to January 8, 2023
ONE HUNDRED YEARS ago this month, British archaeologist Howard Carter came across a step below a sun-baked stone in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings. Three weeks of digging later came one of the greatest discoveries of all time: the tomb of King Tut. The find fuelled a global obsession with Egypt that continues to this day. The pharaoh would be celebrating in his gold coffin if he could see the way his story has been brought to life in Beyond King Tut: The Immersive Experience now having its Canadian premiere in Vancouver.
Tutankhamun was around nine years old when he began his reign in 1332 B.C. and only about 19 when he died of unknown causes. Some 5,400 objects were found within his tomb, including his 11-kilogram blue-and-gold death mask. (Check out the spell engraved on the back of it in larger-than-life size at the show.) None of the actual objects are physically part of the exhibition—they’re home where they belong, about to rest in the forthcoming Grand Egyptian Museum—but some are displayed through the sophisticated projection technology that previously showcased paintings of artists like Monet and Van Gogh.
Beyond King Tut digs deep into the child’s life (including his many health issues) and beyond, journeying from the era in which he ruled to the present day via archival materials, photos, videos, text, audio, storytelling, and animation. There’s an extensive multimedia section about the laborious, meticulous rituals involved in preparing King Tut’s body to journey to the afterlife. It’s fascinating to learn things like what was involved in the 70-day mummification process; one of the steps requires washing the eviscerated body with water and wine. Typically, embalmers would leave the deceased’s heart in the body because it was essential for “the final judgment”; Tut’s was removed for reasons unknown, this being among the enduring mysteries that the show explores.
The largest of the nine galleries is the main projection space, where you can sit on a replica boat—its sail acting as a projection screen—to watch the 23-minute video loop all around you. You’re awash in the sorts of stunning colours and scenes that are painted on the walls of the tomb, such as images of Tutankhamun in the afterworld. At times, projected patterns on the floor resemble the boat’s gentle wake or ripple as if a stone had been tossed in the water nearby. Contrasting those dreamy surrounds is floating footage of Cairo today, giving people who’ve never visited the chance to see just how shockingly close the Pyramids of Giza are to city neighbourhoods and streets. Despite the awesomeness of the immense immersive animation, occasionally the effects underwhelm, as when images of ancient figures simply scroll up and down against the wall. (And for all the expense poured into the exhibition, was there not enough money for a proofreader? Even the boy king could have spotted the punctuation error in this sentence: “A death mask portraying the deceased was placed over the head and shoulders of the mummy to ensure that the soul would recognize it’s body.” )
Beyond King Tut offers the same kind of wonder that viewers of immersive Monet and Van Gogh exhibitions experienced, but it isn’t as kid-friendly as those shows, where you could lose yourself in glowy grandeur. Visitors around the same age as the young royal may well be bored (as evidenced by some young’uns trying to pull their parents along the date Stir visited). It makes sense that a story as complex and rich as Tut’s would demand detail and structure; to get the most benefit and enjoyment out of this one, you need to read all of the text, right down to the cutlines on the front page of the December 12, 1922 London Times, with its exclusive photos, and the copy next to the photo First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy opening an art exhibition of the tomb’s treasures in 1961 in Washington, D.C.
The show touches on Tut’s impact on pop culture but barely scratches the surface in terms of important discussions around colonization, imperialism, and Carter’s own greed.
The full walk-through takes about an hour, though there’s no time limit on how long you can stay.
Beyond King Tut: The Immersive Experience. Photo courtesy Beyond King Tut
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