News and Events

Upcoming Events

• 02.14.2026

  5-7pm Cohen Memorial Hall Gallery and Atrium

  Spring Exhibitions Opening Reception

   

  Come celebrate the opening of VUMA's Spring 2026 exhibition Scent: Connection, Confrontation, Memory as well as the special atrium installation Woven Wind. Light refreshments will be provided. 

  Free parking available in the 21st Ave lot behind Cohen Hall.

• 02.25.26

  4:15pm Online (Microsoft Teams)

  Online lecture by Egyptologist Robyn Price

   

  "Scent and Social Life in Ancient Egypt"

   

  Robyn Price, visiting assistant professor of archaeology at Bryn Mawr College, discusses the role of scent in ancient Egyptian society and the Egyptian objects in the Vanderbilt University Museum of Art exhibition Scent: Connection, Confrontation, Memory.

  "Smell shaped how ancient Egyptians experienced ritual, memory, and the presence of the divine. Perfumed oils, incense, and floral adornments were not background details but powerful materials that connected people to gods, the dead, and one another. In this talk, I examine ​the art and archaeology of smell in ancient Egypt to explore how a variety of scented products were made, used, and experienced. I consider what materials these products required, where those ingredients came from, and how far they traveled before reaching temples and tombs.

  "Access to these sensory experiences, however, was uneven. While certain forms of indulgence were celebrated in ritual contexts, scent could also be regulated, restricted, or used to mark social difference. Who was allowed to smell good, and when, mattered.

  By following scent from raw material to ritual use, this lecture shows how something as fleeting as smell played a lasting role in shaping identity and belonging in ancient Egyptian life—and what is lost when these objects are encountered today devoid of their original sensescape."

  Objects featured in Scent appear throughout the talk, encouraging visitors to fully immerse themselves in the sensory-rich world of the past.

   

  Advance registration required

   

  About the speaker:

  Robyn Price studies sensory experience in ancient Egypt, with a focus on how smell shaped ritual life, memory, and power. Her work explores how relationships between people, objects, gods, and the dead were carefully constructed through everyday practices like anointing, burning incense, and making offerings. By examining these sensory interactions, she shows how ancient Egyptian ways of experiencing the world supported broader social, economic, and political systems.

  Her doctoral research examined the role of scent in New Kingdom Egypt (ca. 1550–1050 BCE), showing how smell structured inequality in ancient society. Robyn earned master’s degrees in Ancient Egyptian Art and Archaeology and Linguistic Anthropology from the University of Memphis and the University of Virginia, and completed her PhD in archaeology at the University of California, Los Angeles in 2022. She has conducted archaeological fieldwork in Egypt, Israel, Cyprus, Ethiopia, and Spain, and is currently a Visiting Assistant Professor at Bryn Mawr College.

• 03.22.26

  3pm VUMA Gallery

  Artist talk and performance from Kanako Uzawa

   

  Join VUMA for a special talk and performance from artist-in-residence Kanako Uzawa as she debuts a site-specific commission for Scent. Reception to follow.

   

  Free parking available in the 21st Ave lot behind Cohen Hall.

   

  This event will feature American Sign Language interpretation provided by Nashville nonprofit Bridges for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.

• 4.25.26

  2pm VUMA Gallery

  Coffee with the curators

   

  What happens behind the scenes at an art museum? Join Scent curators Susan Dine and Rachel P. Kreiter to view the show and discuss how the exhibition was made. Advance registration required.

   

  Free parking available in the 21st Ave lot behind Cohen Hall.

   

  This event will feature American Sign Language interpretation provided by Nashville nonprofit Bridges for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.