Louise Court

Review of Saatchi Gallery

Having visited this weekend to see the Tutankhamun...

Having visited this weekend to see the Tutankhamun exhibition, I have to say that this was the worst exhibition experience I think I have ever had. The artefacts, some 3000 years old, are fascinating and exquisite - although there could have been more of them - but the experience was definitely one to forget.

The main issue is the number of people allowed in at any one time - you queue to get in - despite showing up at the allotted time - and of course they want to maximise their profits, but in the first few galleries in particular, you are packed in like sardines and trying to get close enough to see an item - let alone read the description, is a slow, frustrating game of waiting and waiting some more, and then inching forwards and getting slightly annoyed when someone less polite suddenly elbows you out of the way. The number of bodies in such a small space meant that the heat was often overwhelming and one lady who fainted was escorted through the crowds in a wheelchair.



The shop... seriously... just keep walking when you get to it. The tat on display far surpasses the level of tat usually available in museum shops. The exhibition catalogue would have been tempting, but the number of items on display is so few in comparison to the total artefacts found in the tomb that you would be better off buying another book elsewhere with richer content.

Overall, how could seeing items from Tutankhamun's tomb not be incredible? It is. But the Saatchi Gallery is not. Too focused on profits to think about the overall customer experience and the layout and flow of the exhibition was poor at best. Avoid.