Blog #4- Museum of Jurassic Technology, Morgan Grimes

The Museum of Jurassic Technology

            The Museum of Jurassic Technology is from the outside just another strange building in the middle of LA. Walking past on the street it almost looks like a residencial building, with a small fountain and gated door. If it wasn’t for the sign above the door im sure I would walk right past. Walking into the museum is disorienting, which I think in hindsight adds to the experience, because of how dark the room is. The bright LA sun blinds you as you walking into a bareley lit room. You are forced to stand still as your eyes adjust to the dark. Even adjusted, the light is dim inside. 
            Once you move past the lobby, you step into the museum, the entire museum is just as dark as the the beginning. This to me is an interesting aspect to the museum as your vision is limited except for the exhibits. Even reading the explanations can be a struggle as your eyes adjust to the back lit writing. Each exhibit as you move through the museum is wildly different, but they are sectioned off into categories.  Most of the exhibits are interactive in some way, either by listening to a phone message, or viewing an optical illusion, or learning a new skill. I think in part this intractability adds to the confusion and enchantment of the museum.  It is as if the museum is telling you, if you look or listen or touch, if you use your own senses then you will understand the piece. You pick up the glasses or the phone ready to get some experience of understanding, but the moment never comes. The satisfaction of understanding is just beyond reach, and I think that its exciting.
            Moving through the museum every exhibit was captivating in its own way, but two stuck out to me. The first was Henry Dalton’s microscopic paintings using butterfly wings. This exhibit to me was captivating. The microscopes were all lined up and ready to be used. You place your eyes down ready for something scientific and instead what you get is a masterpiece of craftsmanship and time. Reading the wall you are taken through not only the history of the microscope but also the explanation that what you are looking at is not only a microscopic painting, but it is made of out butterfly wings. This exhibit is incredible and continues to excite and surprise moving though. The other exhibit that caught my eye was Albert G Richard’s Radiographs. When walking into this room you pick up a pair of wooden glasses. The room is nearly black with this white ghosts of images around the room. As you walk around the images are wispy, and pure white, they are beautiful and eerie. These images are radiographs, which means they are x-rays of the flowers that they so distantly reminisce. These images are captivating and absolutely incredible.
            This museum was incredible from start to finish. It was full of so much information, so much curiosity, and so little answers. The museum left you with more questions, but to me that is more beautiful. It gave you the information, the foundation for the pieces, but left the interpretation, and the understanding to you. Each piece to me was a jumping off point, an invitation to explore, and that was incredible to experience.







All images from: http://www.mjt.org






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