Wunderkammern are proto-museums; curiosity cabinets, a collection of marvels and wonders. Historically, Wunderkammern displayed examples of the strangest things from the natural world -- basilisks, unicorn's horns, mermaids spines, dragon's teeth, as well as the newest discoveries in zoology, geology etc -- as well as extraordinary objects made by human hands.
The cabinet of wonders is a way of placing objects next to each other to evoke memories, a cabinet of hyperlinks to a broad set of visual associations. The Wunderkammer finds its genesis in devices such as the memory palace, an imagined or recalled architectural-visual structure used to store and retrieve memories. In addition, it has a strong relationship with memento mori -- images and objects intended to remind the viewer of mortallity.
This Wunderkammer collects images of real Wunderkammern and old museum displays as well as of objects that would have found a place in a 16-18th century Wunderkammer.
Images from this group may be featured in Museum of Dust .
