The Wonder Parlor
Clare Parry and Julia Westerbeke teamed up to create “The Wonder
Parlor,” an interactive installation in the Teen Studio of The New Children’s
Museum. A seemingly ordinary collection of thrift-store furniture has become
the site of sprawling black-and-white collages that pour out of cabinets and hide
inside drawers. A flock of birds soar out of an antique side table. A collection
of bats absconds under a tattered chair near sumptuous drips of jewelry and
coiling snakes. Fantastical and absurd creatures abound, among them human-
animal hybrids and light bulbs with legs. Throughout this installation, the visual
puns of surrealism are given a contemporary spin with collages that mind the gap
between the strange and the beautiful.
This project is inspired by Cabinets of Curiosities (or Wunderkammer).
Popularized in the 16th and 17th centuries, these collections were filled with
curios, natural wonders, relics, zoological specimens and exotic artifacts from
far-away lands, among other things. Similarly, “The Wonder Parlor” is an
accumulation of strange sights that evoke feelings of mystery and awe. Viewers
will find themselves consumed by the intricacies of a bizarre and exquisite new
world that was made by the simplest and humblest of means: collage.
In tandem with the installation, there will be a workstation where visitors can
create collages, which will be framed and displayed in the space. Here, the
viewer can become an active participant, creating his or her own wonders
from similar imagery. This component of the exhibit reaches out to the public,
encouraging collage as an accessible art form and a vehicle for the imagination.
Informative posters will detail the history of collage, Cabinets of Curiosity and the
Surrealist art movement.
Parlor,” an interactive installation in the Teen Studio of The New Children’s
Museum. A seemingly ordinary collection of thrift-store furniture has become
the site of sprawling black-and-white collages that pour out of cabinets and hide
inside drawers. A flock of birds soar out of an antique side table. A collection
of bats absconds under a tattered chair near sumptuous drips of jewelry and
coiling snakes. Fantastical and absurd creatures abound, among them human-
animal hybrids and light bulbs with legs. Throughout this installation, the visual
puns of surrealism are given a contemporary spin with collages that mind the gap
between the strange and the beautiful.
This project is inspired by Cabinets of Curiosities (or Wunderkammer).
Popularized in the 16th and 17th centuries, these collections were filled with
curios, natural wonders, relics, zoological specimens and exotic artifacts from
far-away lands, among other things. Similarly, “The Wonder Parlor” is an
accumulation of strange sights that evoke feelings of mystery and awe. Viewers
will find themselves consumed by the intricacies of a bizarre and exquisite new
world that was made by the simplest and humblest of means: collage.
In tandem with the installation, there will be a workstation where visitors can
create collages, which will be framed and displayed in the space. Here, the
viewer can become an active participant, creating his or her own wonders
from similar imagery. This component of the exhibit reaches out to the public,
encouraging collage as an accessible art form and a vehicle for the imagination.
Informative posters will detail the history of collage, Cabinets of Curiosity and the
Surrealist art movement.
