There are elements of elegance, boldness, sacrilege,
and stupidity in the concept of summarizing the entirety of the world’s
existence in 1.6 million square feet. Bongos travel only in pairs. They’re
nocturnal and shy, and they get progressively darker in color as they age. But
what about the Bongo’s interests? His hobbies? What drives the Bongo to be his
best? How does he grieve? Does he feel grief? What hurts his feelings? What
does he want in life?
The Andean tribes in what is now South America were
some of the first in that region to build and use musical instruments in tandem
with one another. Hideous-sounding whistles and drums reminiscent of bongos,
but the extraordinary bit about it was that they played in groups. “The ancient
music played on prehistoric instruments cannot be reconstructed” because there
is no written form of the songs they played. How, then, did the woman playing
the whistle know how to coordinate with the guys on the drums? More
importantly, how does “reconstructed” music play from the speakers over the
display case?
Ancient African civilizations were varying in their
complexities, ranging from groups of nomads, to webs and staircases of
hierarchy, but this informational card makes that point that all of these
societies, nomadic or not, centered around the family. I picture this. Mother,
father, 2.5 kids. Gathered around a table-sized rock in the African desert to
eat their dinner. Going to sleep, tucking their kids into woven mats so they
could stay up and watch the birds flying in the bloody sky.
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