The Brooklyn Museum got taken with its collection of 30 Coptic sculptures, a third of which have been determined to be fake. So what do they do? Instead of warehousing the sculptures, they’re holding a ‘fake exhibition’, as in they’re inviting the public to see the fakes.

The New York Times reports that by showing the fakes along with the real works, the museum hopes visitors will gain an understanding into how museums authenticate their collections and gain a better appreciation of the real Coptic art.

Question time: What the heck is Coptic Art? If you don’t know what it is, how are you going to spot a real from a fake? Well, FYI, wikipedia has a neat primer on Coptic Art. Seems it has something to do with Egypt and ‘Coptic Christians’. And in answer to your next question, Coptic Christians are native Egyptian Christians.

And if you think all this stuff is dull and boring, well, there’s a lot more that happens  inside New York Museums, other than exhibitions and artsy stuff. You just need to be there ‘after’ the sun goes down, as this article will tell you. And no, the mummies don’t come alive… That only happens at the British Museum.

Speaking of which, insect experts at the Natural History Museum in London have been unable to identify an insect found in their grounds, despite the museum holding 28 million specimens in its collection. Absolutely shameful.

Posted on July 17th, 2008 by Thomas
Filed under: NYC