A Very Curious Fellow: The Museum of Jurassic Technology's David Wilson

| Print Post This | Like (0) | Comments (0)

MANY WHO KNOW of the Museum of Jurassic Technology discovered it in Lawrence Weschler's 1995 book "Mr. Wilson's Cabinet of Wonder: Pronged Ants, Horned Humans, Mice on Toast, and Other Marvels of Jurassic Technology." David Wilson is the instigator of the mind-boggling melange of oddities and amazements in Culver City, Calif.

Much has changed in 13 years, including the addition of the Borzoi Kabinet Theater and the Tula Tearoom. On Saturday, Wilson talks about masters of microminiature art, the passions of museology, and his "unbounded interest and attraction to all phenomena."

» EXPRESS: Is it important to discern truth and fiction?
» WILSON: Actually, we at the museum, we never think about those things.

» EXPRESS: How much does Weschler's concept of "wonder" matter?
» WILSON: Actually, we didn't ... spend any time talking about wonder. And after the article [in Harper's, where the book was exerpted] came out, we started having around the museum these handmade signs that had the word "wonder" and then the international "no" sign through it: a red circle with a slash. Which can be read one of two ways.

» EXPRESS: What sorts of people do not like what you do?
» WILSON: It's hard to say what sorts of people, but there are definitely people that truly, deeply don't like what we do and, to a certain extent, we've had people who say to us, "You really, truly shouldn't do this," or "You can't do this."

» EXPRESS: And those are the people who'll talk to you.
» WILSON: In every guest book, there'll be three or five or seven instances where a person on their way in signed the guest book and on their way out they don't just cross their name off the list but they obliterate it.

» EXPRESS: In the pithiest possible terms, what do you see as the purpose of the museum?
» WILSON: I can't do that. I can't say in a few words.

» Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, 7th Street & Independence Avenue SW; Sat., 2 p.m., free; 202-633-1000. (L'Enfant Plaza)

Written by Express contributor Glenn Dixon
Photo courtesy Hirshhorn