The British Museum’s Annual Colloquium for 2018 was centred on ‘Displaying Egypt’, including sessions focusing on context, audience, the circulation of knowledge, transforming collections and reflections on the nature of exhibitions, both permanent and temporary. The event also featured the Raymond and Beverly Sackler Distinguished Lecture in Egyptology, presented by 
Professor Stephanie Moser from the University of Southampton, and the keynote closing lecture by Dr Tarek Tawfik from the Grand Egyptian Museum (the programme and abstracts for the event can be found here, and it is also worthwhile searching #DisplayingEgypt on Twitter for live tweets and discussion throughout the event).
The colloquium was particularly stimulating for its discussion of the nature of museum collections of ancient Egyptian objects, their perception from Victorian to modern times (including a particularly fascinating talk on the representations of ancient Egypt via Egyptian social media), and the nature of particular collections of artefacts such as mummies (or mummified people) and use of photography, digital technology, and so on. The colloquium brought together a range of academics, museum professionals, historians, archaeologists, graduates, students and more, all interested in various aspects of Egyptology, museum collections and curation, and how we present Egyptian history in public displays. Interesting conversations on a wide range of relevant topics such as colonialism, context and acquisition and progression of displays took place throughout both days. It was clear that further discussion and research will continue to inform current practice on the nature of displaying Egypt; not only in how we can better understand this ancient culture and effectively present its history through museum collection displays, but also how we may address modern perceptions and the desires of modern audiences. 
The Call for papers for the Annual Egyptian Colloquium for September 2019 has now been announced, entitled: ‘Amarna: the lived city’. Further information including deadline and submission details can be found here. This event will include a keynote lecture by Professor Barry Kemp of the Amarna Project.
