Mediterranean Rivers: Chained and Unchained
Kaemmer Family Gallery, Perlman Teaching Museum
September 18 – November 18, 2015
Co-curated by Professors Mary Savina and Victoria Morse
The Mediterranean region is home to storied rivers from the Arno to the Tiber. This exhibition, highlighting 16th and 17th century illustrations and maps, explores how rivers are revered, documented, altered, controlled, and charted from the point of view of an historian and a geologist. Lessons learned from Italian Renaissance books and charts have direct application to local rivers today, including the Cannon in Northfield, Minnesota.
The river’s fierce current, its wild
Extremity attained, crushing all manner of things
Wherever it reachesMaking one side high and another low
It carves away the bluffs,
Altering riverbed and river bottom
Overflowing as if to do battle with Mother EarthNiccolò Machiavelli, 1469-1527