From April 12, 2024 to February 16, 2025, the Musée des Confluences is hosting "Epidemics, taking care of the living world," an exhibition in which epidemics are viewed as both a biological and social phenomenon. We speak to anthropologist and project manager, Mathilde Gallay-Keller about this exhibition.
The exhibition looks back at a shared history involving humans, animals and microorganisms, the history of epidemics as agents which play a key role in shaping our societies.
Mathilde Gallay-KellerAnthropologist and exhibition project manager
Can you tell us about the exhibition and its content?
Mathilde Gallay-Keller : "Epidemics, taking care of the living world" is a historical investigation of several major disease outbreaks that have devastated people's lives on different continents from the Neolithic to the present day: plague, smallpox, cholera, the 1918 influenza pandemic, AIDS, etc. The exhibition also emphasizes that the story of epidemics cannot be told without involving all living things including humans, animals and microorganisms.
How did the idea for the exhibition come about?
M. G-K. : In 2018, our director, Hélène Lafont-Couturier, visited the exhibition Outbreak: Epidemics in a Connected World at the National Museum of Natural History (Washington DC). She wanted to do something in a similar vein, a decision taken long before the COVID-19 pandemic. This project on epidemics was a good fit for Lyon as a city offering outstanding epidemic research and prevention facilities, including the Hospices Civils university hospital, the Jean-Mérieux BSL-4 laboratory and the International Agency for Research on Cancer.
What main challenge did you face when putting together the exhibition?
M. G-K. : Without question it was the need to maintain an appropriate level of scientific rigor for addressing this type of topic in its historical context. Providing information on how technical objects were used in second-century Roman medicine or 19th-century microbiology also proved a thoroughly thrilling challenge.
What can people expect in terms of the visitor experience?
M. G-K. : The design is laboratory-themed and includes fun features such as microscopes that visitors can use and Petri dishes with cultured living microorganisms. Large lighting units in the shape of flasks, beakers and test tubes light up the collections in pastel shades representing care. Interactive, sound-based and audiovisual features adopting the format of an investigation are also interspersed along the way. The exhibition includes over 100 objects and documents relating to the history and science of epidemics.
How did the Musée des Confluences gather so many exhibits?
M. G-K. : The Musée des Confluences has made hybrid collections its trademark. This exhibition combines ethnographic, scientific, technical and contemporary art collections. To achieve this, we drew on our own collections and also included exhibits from numerous French, British and Swiss institutions.
The Institut Pasteur is one of the main organizations that has loaned items for the exhibition. Can you tell us about objects sourced from the Pasteur Museum collections and Institut Pasteur archives? How did you discover this heritage?
M. G-K. : Visiting the Institut Pasteur Archives and meeting with archivists played a key role. I also discovered the heritage held at the Pasteur Museum during my PhD thesis. How were Institut Pasteur scientists like Émile Roux and Jean Comandon able to take pictures of disease-carrying insects or film microbes in action in the late 19th century? The answers to these questions can be found in the Institut Pasteur Archives and Museum, and also in our exhibition at the Musée des Confluences. Our exhibits include a remarkable micro-photographic camera designed by Émile Roux and a micromanipulator invented by Pierre de Fonbrune, which enabled work to be performed on microscopic preparations using micro-tools during the Institut Pasteur's "glass era". Such devices chart the history of science and the relationship between humans and microbes.
Can you explain the necessity of this exhibition on epidemics four years on from the COVID-19 pandemic?
M. G-K. : This exhibition shows us that the recent pandemic is one in a series of infectious disease outbreaks whose prevalence and propensity to become pandemics in recent decades warn us of the perils of large-scale exploitation of ecosystems by human communities. In a world where there is deadlock on deforestation, intensive livestock farming and excessive standardization of living things, the One Health approach outlined in the final section of the exhibition represents a more sustainable public health model than simply eradicating infectious diseases. Only by treating human, animal and environmental health as a whole, and therefore taking care of all living things, can we preempt and stave off future epidemics with maximum effect.
How would you summarize the exhibition in a few words?
M. G-K. : The exhibition looks back at a shared history involving humans, animals and microorganisms, the history of epidemics as agents which play a key role in shaping our societies.
The Institut Pasteur, exhibition partner
The Institut Pasteur loaned 40 works and scientific objects from the collections of its museum and Archives Department for the exhibition at the Musée des Confluences.
These include two unique instruments.
- A micro-photographic camera, also known as an "optical bench," developed by Doctor Emile Roux (1853-1933) and used to take precise images of the microbial world; it marks the start of scientific photography which led to the replacement of drawings.
- A pneumatic micromanipulator, invented by Pierre de Fonbrune (1901-1963), which minimizes the hand’s natural vibrations when handling microscopic samples.
Book your tickets online now through the Musée des Confluences website. The exhibition is open to families, individual visitors and school groups Tuesday to Sunday from 10.30am to 6.30pm with late opening till 10pm on the first Thursday of every month and from 10.30am to 6.30pm during Zone A school holidays (except the summer holidays).
