Cabinet of Curiosities Photography & Specimens September 12,
2012–February 10, 2013 Location: Bloch Building, Gallery L11
Admission is free. The exhibition, Cabinet of Curiosities:
Photography & Specimens is loosely based around the 16th and
17th century concept of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Precursors
to the modern museum, these Cabinets were assembled by their
owners to reflect the intense fascination with the marvelous,
unusual, unexpected, exotic, extraordinary, or rare. This show
examines what a photographic Cabinet of Curiosities might look
like. It includes examples ranging from the very tiny
(snowflakes and microscopic mites) to the very distant
(telescopic image of the surface of the moon). It includes
examples that cannot be seen with the naked eye of living things
(x-rays) and of the deceased (skeletons of differing animal
species). It explores the exotic (carmine bee eater) and the
unusual (pulled teeth from the collection of Peter the Great).
Along these same lines, questions will be raised abou