Walking through Civilizations: The Power of Museums and Exhibitions
In this webinar, Bibi Pelic and Sophie Rochefort Guillouet explored the powerful role museums and exhibitions play as living bridges between civilizations. Moving beyond the idea of museums as repositories of objects, the conversation examines how cultural institutions actively connect societies across time and space—shaping how we understand difference, continuity, and shared human experience.
Drawing inspiration from the Silk Roads exhibition at the British Museum, the session used the Silk Roads not simply as a historical trade network, but as a civilizational system of exchange—of ideas, technologies, beliefs, aesthetics, and worldviews. Through this lens, museums emerge as spaces where civilizations are encountered, interpreted, and re-imagined rather than merely studied.
The discussion touched on:
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How exhibitions translate complex civilizational histories into accessible narratives
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The role of curatorial choices in shaping empathy and cross-cultural understanding
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Why material culture matters for grasping abstract ideas such as identity, power, and worldview
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How museums function today as educational, civic, and ethical spaces in a fragmented world
This is not only a conversation about art history or archaeology. It is a broader dialogue about identity, cultural literacy, and the responsibility of cultural institutions in an age of global interconnectedness and tension. The webinar invites viewers to reconsider museums as active participants in civilizational dialogue—places where the past informs the present and opens pathways to mutual understanding.
Educators, students, museum and cultural professionals, historians, travelers, and people interested in civilizations, global history, and the cultural foundations of our shared world attended this insightful webinar.
Speaker Bios
Sophie Rochefort Guillouet is responsible for lectures in the Silk Road Program at the Paris Institute of Political Studies (Sciences Po), Asia-Pacific Campus. She also teaches history of Japanese, Korean, and Ancient Chinese art at the Institut Catholique de Paris. In addition, she leads Comparative History and Literature courses within the Humanities and Contemporary Societies department at the University of Rouen, Normandy. Her work focuses on cross-civilizational exchange, art history, and comparative cultural analysis.
Bibi Pelic, CCF President, is a published author, interdisciplinary business consultant, concert violinist, and cultural strategist. A graduate of the Prague Music Academy and the Real Madrid Graduate School, she is a former Senior Content Editor at The Times Online Academy in London. Today, she leads Bibi Pelic Talks, a YouTube channel dedicated to exploring history, creativity, leadership, and civilizational thinking.