Special Exhibitions: Target Gallery

MIM’s special exhibitions gallery complements the museum’s permanent collection with exciting and informative traveling shows, special engagements, and changing exhibitions drawn from our vast collection of musical instruments. Explore unique displays that will enrich your musical journey while fostering an appreciation for music culture around the world.

MIM is grateful to the Target Corporation for its generous contribution in making this gallery possible.

New Exhibition

SANZA
Experience a fascinating new special exhibition at MIM featuring a vibrant African musical-instrument tradition. Sanza: African Thumb Pianos from the Collections of F. & F. Boulanger-Bouhière and MIM opened on Saturday, February 25, and continues through October 1, 2012.

The exhibition showcases two hundred sanzas—thumb pianos (lamellophones or lamellaphones)—from a private Belgian collection, several pieces from MIM’s own collection, and others on loan from the Royal Museum for Central Africa in Tervuren, Belgium. The sanza is a rich component of traditional African music. Made with various combinations of vegetable fiber, wood, and metal, the instruments are played by storytellers, historians, and ritual leaders. Some sanzas feature beautiful symbolic motifs.

The exhibition will display thumb pianos from different locations around Africa; they come in various shapes, types, and sizes, ranging from the handheld to the enormous.

Entrance to SANZA is included in general museum admission.