News flash: broken stuff continues to exist
07 May 2013
Massive news flash/amazing coincidental discovery: broken objects do not cease to exist.
Having recently made a trip to the Bowes museum, this afternoon I had the pleasure of a personalised tour of Dr. Nicky Reeves’s exhibition at the Whipple museum of the History of Science.
Nicky’s exhibition touches on a variety of subjects, mentions Jeremiah Dixon and encases a carefully calculated amount of stuff - the “bits” of scientific endeavour. Nicky and I mused about how we view these “bits” today; how they are treated once they enter the domain of the archive/museum; how they might have looked at the time they were used; and their different meanings in different contexts. After all, musing is what one does in a museum.
Highly recommended.
I hope others will visit and enjoy Nicky’s charming and lovingly detailed Playmobil diorama, a very special ear, a display of items from the “early 21st century” and a mystery locked box. My favourite part was the deliberate and meaningful inclusion of bits of broken things, and specifically, an inventory from the Board of Longitude featuring… BROKEN THERMOMETERS.
I speak to Nicky from time to time, which is less often than I should, considering what a good friend he is of mine, but I promise we had never talked about broken thermometers before I encountered them in two museum exhibitions within a week.
Thanks Nicky!
Tags: museum
< Previous post | Next post >Favourite posts
- On wiggly lines and being normal
- On infinite villages
- Running a race backwards
- Brainmaking
- Their tables were stored full, to glad the sight
- The structure of a smell
Recent posts
- Skill swaps
- Times Table Hack Stars
- Long, crustless hypotenuses
- Standing up a prototype
- Optimising the FA Cup
Blog archives
Posts from 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024.