
Museums are now places where everyone can enjoy objects; sometimes these objects are very rare, very famous, very old, or very beautiful but they were put in a museum so everyone could get the chance to see them. But it wasn’t always this way! Hundreds of years ago, people collected objects they thought were interesting, but usually these collections were kept in wealthy aristocrats private homes as Cabinets of Curiosity, (wunderkammer, which is German for wonder room). These rich collectors would organize for their personal enjoyment exotic or extinct animals, natural materials, historical relics, and works of art. Although they would invite their friends to see them, cabinets of curiosity weren’t open to the public the way today’s museums are.
KIDSPACE has its own Cabinet of Curiosity! Peek behind each of the doors on Ephraim and Sadie Hatfield’s Gigibòsgoshgoshmuxqüdòh (Chicken Pig Bear Deer), an interactive re-imagination of the Wunderkammer made just for KIDSPACE. But unlike the Wunderkammer of yesteryear, this cabinet is available for everyone! Hope to see you in the gallery!
–Leigh Dale, year-long education intern