Thursday, April 8, 2010

Field Tripping: Jurassic Museum of Technology

















Los Angeles' Westside neighborhood Culver City boasts some of the best venues for art in the city. It's Washington and La Cienega Boulevards are speckled with galleries showcasing both fresh urban art well as ultra-conceptual conteporary work and pretty much every sort in between. While that spectrum provides plenty of room for surprise and enchantment, one of the most inspiring spots for viewing art in Culver City is slightly off that particular beaten path. The Museum of Jurassic Technology, a self-described "educational institution dedicated to the advancement of knowledge and the public appreciation of the Lower Jurassic," is essentially a quirky house of oddities whose name is just as puzzling as the mysterious wonders you find inside. While the museum isn't quite the space you'd imagine finding visual art in the traditional sense, the curiously beautiful and eccentric items it holds have turned it into a cult destination for artist folk and the everyday man alike.

I recently made a visit to the museum and found it an incredible source of inspiration. Between the carved fruit stones, tiny "European mole" skeleton, dioramas, cyptically written framed letters, and eery videos, there's a lot to take in. Don't try to make too much sense of it as the beauty of ths place is best seen when you are able to just appreciate its eccentricities. As a testiment, I leave you with these equally mysterious (and purposely without caption) images I took on my recent exploration. For me visting was like joining a secret club. I'll choose not to tell and show you everything I saw. If you're as curious as I was, you'll just check it out yourselves. Besides, I'm not sure I could describe it if I wanted to. :)