Cabinet

O
Curiosities
Contents of this lecture
•Overview of the wonderchamber
•The experience of wonder - and how this can be a key to interactivity
and cross-disciplinary connections
•The box or shelf as a tool for making curious artworks
•Boxes and cabinets used by artists:
-Duchamp
-Fluxus (Maciunas)
-Joseph Cornell

• Collecting as media
• the work of Mark Dion

• internet collections and digital wunderkammers

•Wunderkammer: wonder room, wonder chamber
•Wunderkabinet, Wunderschranke: cabinet of curiosities
•Kunstkammer: art room/art chamber
•Kunstkabinet: art cabinet
Olaus Wormius 1588 - 1654
•Danish physician amassed a
massive collection of objects
and artifacts, both natural
and man-made
• Collections depicted as
etchings known as Museum
Wormianum
Olaus Wormius 1588 - 1654
Ulisse Aldrovandi 1522 - 1605
•His "theatre"
illuminating natural
history comprising some
7000 specimens.
• Interest in botany, geology
and zoology
•Organized a variety of
expeditions in order to
collect and catalogue plants.
Ulisse Aldrovandi 1522 - 1605
“History of Monsters” 1642
Ulisse Aldrovandi 1522 - 1605
“History of Monsters” 1642
Albertus Seba 1665 - 1736
•Published Thesaurus of
animal specimens with
beautiful engravings
•Linnaeus based his
classification off of Seba’s
collection
Albertus Seba 1665 - 1736
Albertus Seba 1665 - 1736
Vincent Levinus 1658 - 1727
•Installed a massive,
vaulted gallery
• Collection open
to the public
•Catalogue of his collection
is called Wondertoonel der
Nature
Vincent Levinus 1658 - 1727
Vincent Levinus 1658 - 1727
 The Freak Show Wonders
19th Century

Feejee Mermaid Stephan Bibrowski

(Lionel the Lion-faced Man)
 Current Wonders

Niagara Falls

Precious Moments Chapel

SCIENCE AND LIFE GALLERY, MELBOURNE MUSEUM, CARLTON
Paris - musee de la chasse et de la nature
(the boar in the center bottom speaks!)
Marcel Duchamp, 1938
Leonora Carrington, 1942
Louise Bourgeois, 1948
Georges Maciunas, 1966
Jane Hammond, 2003
Nicolas Lampert, 2006
Joseph
Cornell
(1903-1972)
Joseph Cornell, Untitled (Solar Set), 1956
Mark Dion
collections - as - art

SCALA NATURAE, 1994

Mark Dion, 1994
Mark Dion, 1998
Mark Dion, 1998
Mark Dion, 2002
Mark Dion, 1991
Daniel Speorri, 1990
Thomas Grunfeld, 1992
Beauvais Lyons, 2010
Don Krumpos 1974 - ??
•Student of Kristy Deetz
•His senior show thesis was
his Wunderkammer
Don Krumpos, 2007
Don Krumpos, 2008-2012