When King Tutankhamun first toured US museums in 1979-80,Hollywood actor and comedian Steve Martin seized on the Egyptomaniaunleashed by the exhibition by inventing a song that asked King Tut,
"How’d ya get so funky?" Banking on the likelihood that Tutankhamun is
still funky, rock concert promoter AEG decided to back a second US tour
for the boy king, and LACMA is the lead venue in the US tour. The show,
which runs until 15 November, has been assailed as profit-motivated popular entertainment.
Los Angeles is the third leg in a three-year tour that began in April 2004
in Basel, Switzerland, and continued in Bonn, Germany this spring. The show was first suggested by the Egyptian government, keen to raise money to build a new museum near the Pyramids. For the US run, the Egyptians have tacked on an additional $5-million fee for each of the four venues.
Ms Kanschat says LACMA requested additional pieces, but the Egyptians
refused. They wanted to add the mask from the 1979 tour, but by law it can
no longer travel outside Egypt. Despite the show's title, only five items on display were actually found in Tutankhamun’s tomb.
The show is produced by three organisations: AEG LIVE Exhibitions, which
owns London's Millennium Dome and is one of the leading sports and
entertainment companies in the world; AEI, a private company that organises touring exhibitions, including a recent one about the late Diana, Princess of Wales; and National Geographic.
The financial arrangement serves the Egyptians and AEG far more than the
museum, which may be seen as an instrument of profit for the other
parties.
By early September, 600,000 tickets had sold, and total attendance was
projected to approach one million, placing the exhibition second in
overall attendance only to the 1.2 million attracted by the 1979 show.
The exhibition will earn LACMA $1,5 million or more.
Critics still say the enterprise is too commercial. They say the
ticket price is excessive (adult tickets cost $25 on weekdays and $30 on
weekends, plus a $3.75 "convenience charge" through AEG).
"Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs"travels to the Fort Lauderdale Museum of Art (15 December-23 April 2006), the Field Museum,
Chicago (26 May 2006-1 January 2007), and the Franklin Institute,
Philadelphia (3 February-30 September 2007).
