I've never been anywhere quite like it. My friend once described it as "an art piece that uses museum curation as its medium" and that's the best description I've come across. To get an idea of what that means, understand that it's fully laid out as a museum with exhibits featuring various objects and artifacts and expositions thereof but these exhibits wildly vary between truth and fantasy. Some are showcases of real, if niche, cultural practices and some are histories of entirely fictional figures that are nevertheless compelling and beautiful.
The creator was awarded a McArthur grant in 2001 and I feel it was more than deserved.
Another strong recommendation for this unique place. I visited soon after its 1988 opening. The museum was so off the grid and unknown that early visitors like me received personal guided tours of unlimited duration from its founder/creator, David Hildebrand Wilson.
It was wonderful. Scintillating. Alas, that was in the late 1980s and I haven't been back, though from the photo in Wikipedia its kind of derelict/dumpy entrance looks like it hasn't changed at all.
If you read "Mr. Wilson's Cabinet of Wonder: Pronged Ants, Horned Humans, Mice on Toast, and Other Marvels of Jurassic Technology," Lawrence Weschler's superb 1995 book about the museum with extended interviews with Wilson, you will find it hard not to want to visit.
My friend from school days, who is into a digging up lot of WWII stuffs, have a museum in a remote corner of India. Backed by Japan, and the local government, it is located near to other Japanese related location in Imphal, Manipur (INDIA).
Here are some pictures I took while visiting it some time before the official opening. I think I got some of the Indian Currency printed by the Japanese during the war. I might also have copies of some videos from during that time (I think the 40s-50s).
https://www.mjt.org/
I've never been anywhere quite like it. My friend once described it as "an art piece that uses museum curation as its medium" and that's the best description I've come across. To get an idea of what that means, understand that it's fully laid out as a museum with exhibits featuring various objects and artifacts and expositions thereof but these exhibits wildly vary between truth and fantasy. Some are showcases of real, if niche, cultural practices and some are histories of entirely fictional figures that are nevertheless compelling and beautiful.
The creator was awarded a McArthur grant in 2001 and I feel it was more than deserved.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museum_of_Jurassic_Technology
Do you remember any exhibits from that time that aren't in place today?
If you read "Mr. Wilson's Cabinet of Wonder: Pronged Ants, Horned Humans, Mice on Toast, and Other Marvels of Jurassic Technology," Lawrence Weschler's superb 1995 book about the museum with extended interviews with Wilson, you will find it hard not to want to visit.
https://www.amazon.com/Mr-Wilsons-Cabinet-Wonder-Technology/...
Here are some pictures I took while visiting it some time before the official opening. I think I got some of the Indian Currency printed by the Japanese during the war. I might also have copies of some videos from during that time (I think the 40s-50s).
https://photos.app.goo.gl/Gao3hq1qYsgNBnzy6
Official Website https://imphalpeacemuseum.com/
https://www.amazon.com/How-Buildings-Learn-Happens-Theyre/dp...