Encomium of the Jurassic Technology

It is not known why men-folk bear their horns in the front of their heads while women-folk grow theirs in the back. It is also not yet known why bees dislike foul language.
   In our constant pursuit and failed attempts at understanding matter, memory, nature and science, we have created the most beautiful and mysterious of objects, instruments, and images.
Failure in these cases is often more interesting. The Museum of Jurassic Technology embraces our pursuit of the unknown, but also reshapes information, forcing the viewer to question
what they know. This makes for a baffling experience; it also awakens one's natural curiosity. Most compelling is the presence inside the museum of natural, rare, and overlooked
phenomenon. Examples of these may be found in the stink ant, Noah's Ark, and the Microminiatures of Hagop Sandaldjian. Progression and finality have no place here, bringing to mind the
Japanese aesthetic of wabi-sabi*. For instance, some of the exhibits in the Jurassic Museum are purposely broken, as if to acknowledge the Museum's sense of ambiguity.The
Museum's exhibits approach history from alternative and obscure sources. They examine the history of cats cradles, collections from unknown or fabricated collectors, and superstitious
folklore. In the heart of the museum is a presentation of Geoffrey Sonnabend's Theories of Forgetting and the Problems of Matter. Sonnabend believed that memory was an illusion and
that we are "condemned to live in an eternally fleeting present, having created the most elaborate of human constructions; memory, to buffer ourselves against the intolerable knowledge
of the irreversible passage of time and the irretrievability of its moments and events."

Afterthought

The Museum of Jurassic Technology provides a respite from the all-knowing modern world. It is a place that decided to go back in time rather than forward. The museum transitions the
visitor from the bright California sun into a darkened maze with only enough light to illuminate the exhibits. Stepping into the Museum of Jurassic Technology symbolically and literally
represents its purpose to be "led always from the familiar objects towards the unfamiliar; guided along, as it were, a chain of flowers into the mysteries of life." The modern museum space
in contrast, is white, bright, and open, the kind of space where looking at other people distracts from the exhibits. Along with this stark contrast to the modern museum experience is its
perception of modern science. Modern science attempts to explain everything. The science presented in the Museum of Jurassic Technology embraces a balance between the explanation and the
mystery while maintaining a strange sense of humor. It acknowledges what we do not know instead of what we do know. The term 'homo sapien' means "knowing man" but this is a misnomer.
We are 'unknowing man' and in this realization we can re-ignite our sense of wonder and pursuit of the unknown.

sources:
Contribution from The Society for the Diffusion of Useful Information, The Museum of Jurassic Technology: Primi Decem Anni Jubilee Catalogue,
California, Society for the Diffusion of Useful Information Press, 2002, Print.
Werner Herzog's documentary Cave of Forgotten Dreams

Musuem of Jurassic Technology

another place.....

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