Ancient Egypt, so strange yet familiar, is a projection screen for every age. A culture wars skirmish was recently fought over the “race” of the Ptolemaic queen Cleopatra. Because the ancient Mediterranean knew no such concept, we may as well ask whether Cleopatra was a Hufflepuff. From Shakespeare to Netflix, we map contemporary anxieties and aspirations onto the shores of the Nile.
Flanked by sphinxes and columns topped with Nemescapped faces, Lauren Halsey’s Met rooftop commission bares an ornamental similarity to the museum’s Temple of Dendur, whose Egyptian-looking bas reliefs actually depict the Roman Caesar Augustus. Unlike the temple, which equates bilateral symmetry with divine mystery, Halsey’s porous pavilion has no single path of entry, no inner sanctum, no imperial footprint. An open roof and off-axis entrances on two sides frame views of Central Park that are the real draw for tourists. Rather than scenes from the Book of the Dead coaxed from stone, Halsey has carved the iconography of her home, South-Central LA, and hieroglyphic flourishes into concre…