Museum creator david wilson, a man of prodigiously unusual imagination, has been mounting a series of unbelievable exhibits there for the last fifteen years. He has produced six independent films, most recently under the auspices of mjt with kabinet, an arts and sciencebased cultural institution located in st. Project muse the museum of jurassic technology, culver. I had even missed lawrence wechslers enchanting 1995 exploration of this museum in his book. The books that mattered most to david bowie, bibliophile. Bookstores never know where to put lawrence weschlers books.
It opens with weschler stumbling upon david wilsons museum of jurassic technology, a storefront museum in culver city, california, whose exhibits include piercing devil bats and horned african stink ants. For better or for worse, these are the waters we swim in. The museum of jurassic technology was founded in 1988 by husband and wife david and diane wilson. As its founder, david wilson reveals we like experiences that break the hard shell of certainty. In this book, wechsler tells how european museums began as private collections of wonderful objects, with the focus less on whether the object was true than whether it evoked amazement. Enter the dark and completely unique world of the museum of jurassic technology. Homework, david wilson, museum of jurassic technology. As he guides readers through an intellectual hall of mirrors, lawrence weschler revisits the 16thcentury wonder cabinets. As he guides readers through an intellectual hall of mirrors, lawrence weschler revisits the 16thcentury wonder cabinets that were the first museums and compels readers to.
Wilsons cabinet of wonder and millions of other books are available for. It is the creation of a visionary named david wilsonwho for the past decade has been displaying. Not according to david wilson, director of the brilliant and baffling museum of jurassic technology mjt, a modernday cabinet of wonder that takes an unorthodox approach. The name zohar also refers to the writings that form the basis of kabbalistic study. 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. Such is the interpretation offered by the museum of jurassic technology. Wilsons cabinet of wonder 1995, his portrait of the curator of the museum of jurassic technology, is likely to be found in psychedelics.
It traveled for several years before settling on venice boulevard in. Wilsons cabinet of wonder, which tries to unravel the mysteries of the museum and david wilsons work. Like the first museums of the 17th century, the fantastic array of exhibits at the museum of jurassic technology suggests a modernday cabinet of curiosities, filled with juxtapositions of the genuine, the strange, and the truly unexplainable. The author relates his experiences with the museum and its creator, the titular david hildebrand wilson. Like a coat of two colors, the museum serves dual functions. It traveled for several years before settling on venice boulevard in late 1987.
Mr wilsons cabinet of wonder pronged ants horned humans. David wilson was awarded the macarthur fellowship unofficially called the genius grant in 2001. Things that dont quite make sense can be our most valuable tools. A small branch of the museum is inside the karl ernst osthausmuseum in hagen, germany. African stink ants that inhale spores, which turn, fatally, into unicornlike horns. Weschler who has worked as a staff writer at the new yorker for more than a decade has been regaling us with detailed descriptions of the arcane exhibits at david wilsons museum of jurassic technology. The museum of jurassic technology looks like a humble little storefront on a street in culver city, california. Pronged ants, horned humans, a landscape carved on a fruit pitsome of the displays in david wilsons museum of jurassic technology are hoaxes. The museum of jurassic technology, located in culver city, was founded by david hildebrand wilson and diana drake wilson husband and wife. Pronged ants, horned humans, mice on toast, and other marvels of jurassic technology new york, 1995, 2729, 51. Mjt was founded in 1989 by artists david wilson and diana wilson as an educational institution dedicated to the advancement of knowledge and public appreciation of the lower jurassic.
When i told wilson about the phrase book on the wall and its role in contemporary. The museum was the subject of a 1995 book by lawrence weschler entitled mr. Museum of jurassic technology, culver city, california. Museum creator david wilson, a man of prodigiously unusual imagination, has been mounting a series of unbelievable exhibits there for the last 15 years. This presentation of david wilsons museum mirrors the real experience of visiting the mjt and presents questions about the role of. Lawrence weschlers latest book is a bit like one of those. Pronged ants, horned humans, mice on toast, and other marvels of jurassic technology is a book by lawrence weschler primarily about the museum of jurassic technology and. It is the creation of a visionary named david wilsonwho for the past decade has been displaying exhibits that stretch the boundaries. Stay at the museum of jurassic technology twice as long as you did the first time 3. From the museum gift shop, narrow exhibit rooms offer a tidy arrangement of dioramas, strange machines, spotlit oddities, and mysterious photography.
Wilson, your museum of jurassic technology mjt first came to my attention in 1995 when i read an excerpt from lawrence weschlers mr. Finalist for pulitzer prize for general nonfiction finalist for national book critics. David wilson, director, the museum of jurassic technology search for david wilson at. I first heard about the museum of jurassic technology mjt from michael. Pronged ants, horned humans, mice on toast, and other marvels of jurassic technology, attempts to explain the mystery of the museum of. The museum of jurassic technology by lawrence weschler on. This presentation of david wilsons museum mirrors the real experience of visiting the mjt and presents questions about the role of museums in todays and yesterdays society. Wilsons cabinet of wonder, which explores the museum of jurassic technology founded by david.
As befits the realitywarping ethos of the mjt, it seems not. Wilsons cabinet of wonder, lawrence weschlers exquisite portrait of the museum of jurassic technology and its irrepressible curatorbon vivant, david wilson. Weschlers book takes its reader through the museum of jurassic technology and inspires curiosity, wonder, confusion and disbelief. A miracle, a universe 1990, which examines the role of torture in the. Upon entering, however, you find yourself in a maze of odditiesa row of microscopes on mosaics made of butterflywing scales, a hall of flower x. In 1984, he created the first incarnation of the museum of jurassic technology, which was a traveling collection for galleries, community centers, and museums.
If you wish, you can combine all info rather than prepare separately. A comedy of values 1999, a profile of a performance artist who draws images of money, in economics. Pronged ants, horned humans, mice on toast, and other marvels of jurassic technology paperback november 26, 1996. The museum remains strapped for cash, as wilson recently told a reporter. After high school, wilson enrolled at kalamazoo college where he majored in urban entomology with a minor in art. Intrigued, weschler chronicles the bizarre holdings of wilsons. Pronged ants, horned humans, mice on toast, and other marvels of jurassic technology.
Or anyway, thats the origin story ive long remembered and told. The following essay is an edited version of the text from david wilsons speech, museum of jurassic technology, given at the obsession, compulsion, collection symposium, may day, 2003. Pronged ants, horned humans, mice on toast, and other marvels of jurassic technology, which describes in detail many of its exhibits. Find all the books, read about the author, and more. Wilsons cabinet of wonder, a finalist for both the. If you have not read this book, please do so, then return to us. The museum is reported to receive 25,000 visitors each year.
David wilson was awarded a macarthur foundation genius grant in 2001. Like wilson, berkmans art moves beyond the binary of fact and fiction, creating a portal to another world. Museum creator david wilson, a man of prodigiously unusual imagination, has. Museum of jurassic technology a wundertrailer takes. Also available in gift shop is lawrence weschlers book, mr. If we know one thing at our museum, the museum of jurassic technology, it is obsession and compulsion. Finalist for pulitzer prize for general nonfictionfinalist for national book critics circle award for nonfictionpronged ants, horned humans, a landscape carved on a fruit pitsome of the displays in david wilsons museum of jurassic technology are hoaxes. 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. Finalist for pulitzer prize for general nonfictionfinalist 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. Lest the reader be too confused at this point, let me say that the book s inspiration, if not sole subject, the museum of jurassic technology, actually exists, and is located in the 9300 block.
He received an mfa in experimental animation from the california institute of the arts in 1976. His book looks at the history of the idea of museums and the early examples curiosity cabinets that led eventually to the great museums of natural history and science, but the main focus is on one mans creation, david wilsons the museum of jurassic technology on venice blvd. On the one hand the museum provides the academic community with a specialized repository of relics and artifacts from the lower jurassic, with an. After all, the name of the museum suggests that everything is a work of fiction nothing on display is from the jurassic period, and there was no technology 150 million years ago. Wilsons collection investigates the whimsical with as much ardor as the technical, the old wives tale with as much. He tells of this very odd place, the museum of jurassic technology, which holds a dazzling array of oddities, many. The first time i visited the museum of jurassic technology, i wasnt sure such a fungus really existed. Founded and directed by david wilson since its nomadic inception in 84, the museum of jurassic technology needs not distinguish history from fantasy. It was founded by david hildebrand wilson and diana wilson in 1989.