Your Personal Wunderkammer
Last updated
Was this helpful?
Last updated
Was this helpful?
Throughout this semester you will document your inspirations, fascinations, dreams, and experiences in/on one or more of the following: a physical journal, twitter, instagram, pinterest, social VR log, blog, hope chest, AR journal, google drive, or any other platform or notebook you wish. This will be your personal "wunderkammer." This should be a resource that is devoted to this class, however parts and pieces of work and research you are doing in other classes or on personal projects or internships can certainly find their way into your wunderkammer.
What is wunderkammer?
The word "wunderkammer" (directly translated as "wonder chamber") and also referred to as "cabinets of curiosities" first appeared as a concept in the mid-1500s. Repositories, entire rooms, not only cabinets, began to spring up across Europe that focused on wondrous and exotic objects, with a focus on their collection, preservation and display. Precursors to museums, the wunderkammer marked the intersections of science and superstition, as well as physical and artificial worlds.
An interesting read in the context of our relationship to cabinets of curiosities today: "Where Wonder Lives Online: Why Instragram is the New Cabinet of Curiosities" by Amber Sparks
Twice in the semester you will share your personal wunderkammer, once as a class presentation and once in ones on ones with your professor. I highly suggest that you update your wunderkammer on a weekly or bi-weekly basis, as staying up all night before your presentations are due will probably lead to a dull and less-inspired collection of your curiosities.