A Spotlight on the Museum of Jurassic Technology in Culver City, California
Posted on 01-02-2023 10:12 PM
A Spotlight on the Museum of Jurassic Technology in Culver City, California
Spotlight on the Museum of Jurassic Technology in Culver City, California
Culver City and The Palms are separated by about two miles of Venice Boulevard, an iconic Los Angeles roadway. The Culver City Museum of Jurassic Technology (MJT), situated on the corner of Bagley Avenue and Venice, is located at the approximate median point of the Boulevards. The MJT stands out in the area due to its olive-green stucco facade accented by a marble fountain. In between three sets of windowpanes, the stucco is peeling off the top of the building. An enclosed teal-green door remains closed for visitors and only opens when they enter.
Mallory Gemmel took the photo of MJT Facade in Image 1
Inside the MJT, however, there is a cramped and dark gift shop that sells items made by the museum and exclusively available to members, such as porcelain sculptures, 3-D ViewMasters, and informational catalogues. On top of the gift shop, the museum contains ten to twelve galleries, three floors, and even an outdoor courtyard. Dioramas, taxidermy, miniature sculptures, and more are displayed in the museum galleries. Its exhibits are extensive and diverse, featuring collections of Napoleon Bonaparte-themed materials, a room devoted solely to Cats Cradle's history, and a portrait gallery of paintings that memorialize numerous Soviet dogs who were sent to space in the early 1960s. In addition to natural history and science, folklore, ethnography, and art, the MJT exhibits a depth of odd and peripheral knowledge that most museums would ignore.
Fuel Design has published Olesya Turkina's Soviet Space Dogs.
David Wilson and his wife Diana founded the Lower Jurassic (MJT) Society in 1988 to promote education about the Lower Jurassic. The majority of museum visitors enter (and leave) the museum with the same question: what is the Lower Jurassic? Visitors to this museum may never come to know the answer to the question; however, this is precisely what makes the MJT different from other museums. No answers are offered by the MJT, and it does not claim any truthfulness to its teachings.
Cats Cradle at the MJT
The California Institute of the Arts awarded Wilson a MFA in 1976 for his studies in film and experimental animation. It is Wilson's role as the leading curator of the MJT to ensure that cinema and animation find their way into the museum's DNA. Different sources of light faintly illuminate the galleries. MJT uses storytelling techniques to contextualize its exhibits in a distinct cinematic manner. Sound recordings, animations, videos, and even holograms provide didactic information about the history of objects and exhibitions. The MJT offers a unique museum experience thanks to its unusual presentation of items, the unique way in which information is transmitted, and the peculiar nature of the objects on display.
Image courtesy of MJT
When people leave museums, they often ask themselves whether the displayed objects are accurate or true. In the MJT's exhibits, every item, work of history, moments, or moments are based on true events, but the museum manipulates their meanings and perceptions. The MJT is experiencing a portion of dissatisfaction from its daily visitors. Culver City Museums are commonly perceived to be places that present facts and history systematically. It encourages viewers to piece together their understanding of archival objects and historical knowledge rather than offering them concrete information.
An installation shot provided by Plasma Magazine for MJT
The museum's primary function is ideological, argue art historians Carol Duncan and Alan Wallach in their influential essay, The Universal Survey Museum. The design of the building is intended to instill society's most revered beliefs and values upon those who use or pass through it (449). In its apparatuses, the MJT challenges viewers to contemplate the type of information and belief systems that museums are typically reliant upon. In addition to caring for tangible and intangible aspects of heritage and humanity, museums serve society by acquiring, conserving, researching, and communicating them (ICOM). Museums are prone to preserving information subjectively; most of them are tied to colonial beginnings and colonial systems of preservation, presentation, and education.
Canadian Museum of History photo
By carefully curating unique objects, spaces, and narratives, the MJT challenges viewers' understandings of institutions and history. Museums are undergoing a decolonization process and re-contextualisation today, both of which are relevant for audiences. A key concept of the MJT is to challenge audiences to think critically before accepting information as true, true, or true, regardless of whether it comes from a museum or a website.
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