Museum of Jurassic Technology
Have you ever heard of The Museum of Jurassic Technology?
Chris in his happy place, October 2019 (Culver City, CA)
I can’t remember how I stumbled upon this place, but I do remember it was the early days of my interweb surfing. I think I was looking up info on “cabinets of wonder” and I landed on a page about Athanasius Kircher on the museum’s website.
Cabinets of Wonder were like miniature museums, sometimes containing fossils and weird little artifacts, and they often included fake artifacts (like human horns supposedly removed from someone’s head) mixed with real artifacts.
The Museum of Jurassic Technology is like a large cabinet of wonder, in that it includes some fictional displays of historical science and some bizarre but very truth-based historical installations and representations. They leave it up to the museum visitors to figure out which is which. There is a story of an expedition to capture a type of bat that can focus its echolocation in a manner that can pierce solid walls for the bat to fly through them, and a theory on memory involving diagrams of a bisected cone that is tied (in a convoluted manner) to the tragic history of an opera singer and a neuroscientist.
The bat that can fly through walls
There are marvelous histories and models of early opera stage technology and a 3D movie about the Mongolian steppe.
Some of Hannah’s favorite parts of the museum were the room of remembrance for Soviet space dogs, the new “Fauna of Mirrors: A Catadioptric Bestiary” exhibit, and the darkened room full of small dioramas depicting life in mobile homes called “The Garden of Eden on Wheels”.
Commemorative pendant featuring Laika, the first dog launched into space with no return ticket
On the top floor of the museum, you can drink tea from a russian samovar and sit outside in an enclosed rooftop courtyard to watch the museum’s pet doves flutter around.
As you can probably imagine, the gift shop is amazing.
I rummaged around the house for a DVD about the Museum called “Inhaling the Spore” which is a very poetic documentary about the exhibits at the museum, and my copy of the book about the museum called “Mr. Wilson’s Cabinet of Wonder” but I couldn’t find them anywhere. They’ll turn up right after I post this, I’m sure.
If you are ever in Los Angeles, you really need to check it out! Mick and Hannah and I spent a day there a couple of years ago and had a wonderful time! We want to go back and work there!
Here are some links: