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Penned and Printed Exhibition logo showing various items from Palace Green Library Special Collections

Heading into autumn and starting a new academic year, means welcoming new and returning students and visitors, to view the exciting exhibitions across our attractions. From the Oriental Museum to Palace Green Library and even online, there are thought provoking, inter-active exhibitions to enjoy.

MENA at the Oriental Museum - Following the success of this summer’s ‘Remembering Hiroshima and Nagasaki’ exhibition, the Oriental Museum has launched a new exhibition, ‘Voices: Contemporary Art and Design from the Middle East and North Africa’ (MENA).

The exhibition brings together work by artists from Syria, Iran, Lebanon, Egypt, Morocco, Yemen, Jordan and Palestine working in a range of different media including textiles, ceramics, digital collage and photography. Themes explored draw from recent politics, history, topics surrounding identity, and traditional art and craft.   

Curator of the exhibition Gillian Ramsay said: ‘The incredible artists featured in this exhibition reflect the variety of artistic expression seen across the MENA region. They draw their inspiration from traditional calligraphy to graffiti, pop art to Arab-Futurism. There is no single unifying style to bind them together, instead this exhibition highlights their many voices, each unique and inspiring.’  

This free exhibition runs until Monday 20 May 2024. 

‘Penned and Printed’ at Palace Green Library - ‘Penned and Printed’ showcases items from Durham University’s Archives and Special Collections’ shelves and strongrooms, exploring themes of medical progress, local stories of crime and punishment and the journey to women’s suffrage. This unique collection of rarely displayed materials shows ideas which would change the world.

Online exhibition – ‘Tunstall and the Tudors: The Calculating Bishop’.
Visitors also have the opportunity to explore the University Special collections from the comfort of  their home, through a series of online and interactive exhibitions.  Tunstall and the Tudors: The Calculating Bishop’, launched as part of the Durham Castle to 500th anniversary celebrations. This engaging exhibition explores how Cuthbert Tunstall (Prince-Bishop of Durham from 1530-1559) writer of the first mathematics book published in England, managed to  survive and thrive in turbulent Tudor England.