An Interview with Franck Mercurio of the Field Museum

By Lauri Apple in Arts & Entertainment on Nov 10, 2008 5:35PM

Through April 19, the Field Museum is hosting The Aztec World: an exhibition of more than 300 artifacts and artworks made during the reign of the folks known for their ingenuity in science, architecture and penchant for ripping each others' hearts out during sacrificial rituals (different strokes, etc.). The show features pieces never before displayed in the U.S. (and won't be traveling anywhere else, so be proud, Chicago!). Recently we spoke with Franck Mercurio, an exhibition content developer at the museum, about how this major show came to be.

Chicagoist: How did the idea for this exhibit originate, and who got it going?

FM: You know, I'm not sure there was one specific person who came up with the idea here at the museum. Initially, both the Exhibitions Department and the museum's administrative offices were inspired by two recent exhibitions of Aztec art held in London and New York.

John McCarter, the president of the Field Museum, got the ball rolling. He reached out to the Instituto Nacional de Antropologia e Historia in Mexico to explore the possibility of collaborating on an exhibition about the Aztecs.

C: How does a curator or team of curators set about organizing a show of such tremendous scope?

FM: The first thing that the curatorial team does is to focus the subject matter, formulate main messages, and decide on a narrative or storyline for the exhibition. In this particular instance, the curators (and exhibition developers, like myself) decided to organize the exhibition as a metaphorical journey through the Aztec capital, Tenochtitlan. The next step is to then select objects that will reflect the main messages of the exhibition and help tell the story.

C: What were some of the obstacles to getting this exhibit compiled and finalized -- for example, any issues with transporting the objects?

FM: Perhaps the most challenging aspect was coordinating all the different loan requests for objects with 29 different lending institutions, both in Mexico and in the United States. We have a very experienced registrar named Susan Blecher, who did a great job helping to facilitate these loans. Also instrumental was Hilary Hansen, our project manager. Hilary spent her childhood years in Uruguay and speaks Spanish fluently, so her translation skills were invaluable. Finalizing the installation entailed coordinating the dozen or so couriers who accompanied the loaned objects from their places of origin. Our production supervisor, Daniel Breems, did an outstanding job of coordinating the installation of the objects.

C: The exhibit is organized thematically according to social roles -- farmer, artisans and merchants, etc. How was that decided?

FM: The two most recent exhibitions about the Aztecs (at the Royal Academy of Art, London and the Guggenheim Museum, NYC) focused primarily on the lives of the Aztec ruling elite. For the Field Museum exhibition, the curatorial team wanted to present the entire society, including the farmers, artisans, merchants, warriors, high priests, and rulers -- essentially, everyone who made up the society. We wanted to give our visitors a more complete view of Aztec life, including the roles of women (which are often overlooked in more traditional histories). So the Field Museum exhibit combines art history with anthropology and archaeology to build a more holistic view of Aztec culture.

C: How do you edit out pieces from such an exhibit? How does that final selection process work, and who does it?

FM: Good question. The process is different from one exhibition to the next. In the case of The Aztec World, we compiled an initial "wish list" of about 400 objects. This list was pared-down in two ways: (1) some of the pieces were not approved for loan (usually because they are deemed too fragile to travel, or because a museum has a temporary moratorium on lending objects from their collections), and (2) budget and space considerations. In the end, we chose the most spectacular and engaging objects that fit our budget, but also told the story we wanted to convey.

C: What is the most valuable piece (monetarily)? The rarest type of piece? The most unusual?

FM: There is one piece in particular of great value that, on first glance, might not seem very valuable. It is a textile fragment, probably from a woman's garment. Textiles rarely survive in the archaeological record, and there are very few examples of Aztec textiles in existence. This particular fragment was recently excavated in Mexico City at the site of Tlatelolco. It is carbonized -- meaning that it was exposed to great heat or fire at some point, though not completely burned -- which helped it to survive for 500 years in the ground. The color is gone, but the weave and pattern are beautifully preserved. The display case that the fragment sits in is alarmed, as if it were made of gold or some other precious material, so that gives you some idea of how valuable this object is.

C: How does this exhibit compliment the museum's new Mesoamerican collection?

FM: The Ancient Americas, the museum's recently-unveiled permanent exhibition, gives a broad context of the diverse peoples and societies that thrived in the Americas before the arrival of Europeans. Within The Ancient Americas is a gallery devoted to the Aztecs. Our new temporary exhibition, The Aztec World, supplements this gallery and gives a more complete and detailed picture of Aztec life.

C: This exhibit will not be traveling. Is it because of the size?

FM: The exhibition will not be traveling, mainly because of the complexities of extending loans on objects for a period of more than six months. For example, the Museo Nacional de Antropologia in Mexico City has promised several objects (currently on view at the Field) for an exhibition at the British Museum about the life of Moctezuma II.