The museum, which houses a borgesian array of authentic and fantastic specimens unicorn ants, xrayemitting bats, a sculpture of pope john paul ii hewn from. Circulating film and video library, the museum of modern art, new york. A lot of novels explore the human condition by throwing people into the wild and forcing them to contend with the natural world. A small branch of the museum is inside the karl ernst osthausmuseum in hagen, germany. It is less of an experience than visiting the museum itself, owing to the lack of physical immediacy and the mjt is a very physical museum. On the one hand the museum provides the academic community with a specialized repository of relics and artifacts from the lower jurassic, with an. The following essay is an edited version of the text from david wilson s speech, museum of jurassic technology, given at the obsession, compulsion, collection symposium, may day, 2003. He has produced six independent films, most recently under the auspices of mjt with kabinet, an arts and sciencebased cultural institution located in st.
After high school, wilson enrolled at kalamazoo college where he majored in urban entomology with a minor in art. The museum of jurassic technology, the pamphlets cover announced portentously, and you. David wilson is the founding director of the museum of jurassic technology, which opened in 1988. The following year, i moved to stanford and discovered the pleasure of having a wonderful. Wilson is the director of the museum of jurassic technology, which he founded in 1984 to provide traveling collections for galleries, community centers, and museums. The museum is not easy to categorize, but that is the point. The museum of jurassic technology the saturday paper.
If we know one thing at our museum, the museum of jurassic technology, it is obsession and compulsion. That the museum of jurassic technologys falsehoods are indistinguishable from fact feels very attuned not only to the internet of old, but to our contemporary condition. Jurassic genius david wilson offbeat museum curator wins prestigious genius grant take an audio tour of the museum of jurassic technology. A staff writer for the new yorker presents a whimsical and often profound tour of a truly curious museum and its highly ironic curator. Museum of jurassic technology culver city 2020 all you. Many museum visitors will be vexed and frustrated by the museum of jurassic technology.
David wilson is the founding director of the museum of jurassic technology mjt. Its difficult to be passive in a museum that imposes upon the visitor relentless questions about the nature of truth, reality and information. Cofounded in 1987 by david wilson winner of the macarthur fellowship in 2001 and his wife, diana wilson, the institution is part factual, part fantastical, and wholly engaging. This is not a museum of odd things, rather, the museum itself is the odd thing. Museum of jurassic technology gift shop recommended books. It may be a brilliantly elaborate hoax, or a subversive epitemological critique, or the workings of a mad genius david wilson, the mjts founder, received a macarthur grant a few years ago. It was founded by david hildebrand wilson and diana drake wilson husband and wife 1 in 1988. The museum of jurassic technology primi decem anni. Writing with great style and humor, weschler guides the readers through the museum of jurassic technology and through the mind of its curator, david wilson, a man of unusual imagination who mounts exhibits such as sporeinhaling ants, bats deploying ultraviolet frequencies, peachpit carvings, and other exhibits that seem the manifest definition of bizarre. A couple of years ago, weschler a miracle, a universe, 1990, etc. It was founded by david hildebrand wilson and diana wilson in 1989.
A place that has uneasily carried the sobriquet strangest museum in america since it was founded in the late 80s, the museum of jurassic technology is a living love letter to the concept. Like a coat of two colors, the museum serves dual functions. They clone dinosaurs, place them on an island, and set control mechanisms to prevent the animals from breeding or escaping. Finalist for pulitzer prize for general nonfiction finalist for national book critics circle award for nonfiction pronged ants, horned humans, a landscape carved on a fruit pitsome of the displays in david wilsons museum of jurassic technology are hoaxes. Museum of jurassic technology is where art and science overlaps. David wilson was awarded a macarthur foundation genius grant in 2001.
The language on display cases, that authoritative tone coupled with heaps. In his signature volume from 1995, mr wilsons cabinet of wonder, lawrence weschler spun the curious tale of the museum of jurassic technology. The museum of jurassic technology is unique, to day the least. Hidden behind an unassuming, windowless storefront, david wilsons museum of jurassic technology presents itself as a repository of curiosities opera. Inside, the pamphlet opened with a general statement. If it connects, you will love it and never forget it. Wandering through a narrow maze of dimly lit dioramas and exhibits that showcase obscure heroes of technology from ancient times to mid last century, this is most certainly a learning opportunity and definitely a. The museum of jurassic technology mjt is a strategic site for exploring this relationship.
Museum of jurassic technologys david wilson hammer museum. It calls itself an educational institution dedicated to the advancement of knowledge and the public appreciation of the lower jurassic, the relevance of the term lower jurassic to the museum s collections being. He has produced 12 independent films, most recently under the auspices of mjt in conjunction with kabinet, an artsand sciencebased cultural institution located in st. Tamzara on blul and dhol from a recent interactive performance we had at the museum of jurassic technology where we activated difference sections of. Meander through the museums dimlyhit hallways and attempt to find out. With its labyrinthine layout and bewildering exhibits, the mjt provides a natural breaching experiment in which concrete elements of the space disrupt normal competencies for sustaining presumptions of intersubjectivity. Jurassic park is a story of people who wrongly believe they can create and control a natural worldin the form of an amusement park, no less. Museum of jurassic technology is where art and science. The jurassic technology museum is a witty, selfconscious homage to private museums of yore, such as the 16thcentury ashmolean at oxford, where objects from science, nature and art were displayed. The accomplishment of this museum, the brainchild of macarthur fellow david hildebrand wilson, is to offer an experience that examines the way museums work in the mind. Stay at the museum of jurassic technology twice as long as you did the first time 3. The first half, based on a harpers essay, is a description of the museum and of david wilson, whose wunderkammer it is.
Media in category museum of jurassic technology the following 98 files are in this category, out of 98 total. Mr wilsons cabinet of wonder by lawrence weschler, 9780679764892, download free ebooks, download free pdf epub ebook. This part of the book is less detailed and suggestive than the discussion of the royal cabinet, perhaps because it covers what is relatively welltrodden ground in the scholarship. The bite of the raptor the tropical rain fell in drenching sheets, hammering the corrugated roof of the clinic building, roaring down the metal gutters, splashing on the ground in a torrent. Museum of jurassic technology in culver city, ca 90232. Like david wilson, lawrence weschler has a talent for finding exactly those natural wonders that seem too good to be true, and the museum of jurassic technology is one of them. Pronged ants, horned humans, mice on toast, and other marvels of jurassic technology lawrence weschler pronged ants, horned humans, a landscape carved on a fruit pitsome of the displays in david wilsons museum of jurassic technology are hoaxes. Wilson has also produced six independent films, most recently under the auspices of mjt in conjunction with kabinet, an arts and sciencebased cultural institution located in st. I highly recommend a visit to the museum of jurassic technology. From the clinic, she could hardly see the beach or the ocean beyond.
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