The feeling of arousing surprise for the observer is typical for the so-called Wunderkammer or Cabinets of curiosities.

At the wonderful Zoology Museum that time forgot, housed at the Babes-Bolyai University in Cluj, Romania

The summer of July 1932 brought an unexpected guest to Brussels, Belgium. The city had become its usual, ephemeral playground for the oddities, treasures, and inventions of the Foire du midi annual fair, but this time it was joined by the curious Dr. Spitzner and his posse of wax humans. The product

For background and links, please see: bibliodyssey.blogspot.com/2008/01/wondertooneel-der-natur...

This print showing the museum of Ferrante Imperato is one of the oldest preserved illustrations of an early modern collection. It shows the various ingredients of a chamber of art and curiosities: books, stuffed specimens, including malformations, stored on shelves and in cupboards and even hung from the ceiling. The image probably depicts the owner himself showing off his

The Dodo serves up emotionally and visually compelling, highly sharable animal-related stories and videos to help make caring about animals a viral cause.

The feeling of arousing surprise for the observer is typical for the so-called Wunderkammer or Cabinets of curiosities.

Before Christmas I made the props for Lauri Ylönen's (known from The Rasmus) newly released music video. The props included a crazy one-man-band rig, a periscope, a hand puppet, a cage, a window, puppet hatching form an egg... I hope for more crazy work like this in the future. The shoot was great fun too, despite having the occasional cockroach crawling up my arm. I even did a bit of puppeteering. Thanks to director Owe Lingvall and good luck to Lauri with his solo career!

Last month, the Viktor Wynd Museum of Curiosities, Fine Art & Natural History opened its doors on a clutter of curios in East London.

A new monograph from the incomparable Jacques Garcia shines the spotlight on the French designer's most personal — and ambitious project — to date: the complete restoration, renovation and redecoration of Château de Champ de Bataille, his own 17th-century estate in Normandy. Here, he talks to 1stdibs about this passion project like no other.

In Chichibu, Japan, two hours northwest of Tokyo, there’s an odd museum; perhaps the only one of its kind. It’s called the Chinsekikan (which means Hall of Curious Rocks) and it houses over 1700 rocks that resemble human faces. The museum houses all kinds of jinmenseki, or rock with a human face, including celebrity lookalikes like Elvis Presley. And according to a 2013 post on Kotaku, there are also movie and video game character rocks like E.T., Donkey Kong and Nemo. More

At Arppeanum, aka the Helsinki Univeristy Museum, in Helsinki, Finland

Beginning with the Renaissance, Kunst- and Wunderkammers confronted visitors with objects that were not only curious, rare, and precious but also

Photographer Mauricio Alejo uses everyday objects to create gravity-defying arrangements within his apartment, staging curious interventions and acrobatic feats on his kitchen counters and filing cabinets. Working within the confines of his living space has allowed Alejo to produce ideas as they come, rather than attempt to find the perfect backdrop for his spontaneous compositions. “I didn’t always like the apartments I was living in, or better put, I didn’t always like the way some of the places I lived translated into the image,” explained Alejo. More

Glass eyes, Victorian tattoos, and even Napoleon's toothbrush are among the medical oddities revealed on an amazing new Science Museum website.

Kirsty Boyle has compiled a marvellous website that explains in text and pictures "the Karakuri Ningyo craft, and its influence on technology and the arts." This craft, as Boyle explains, is the artistic and technological tradition in Japan of crafting lifelike automata (dolls, puppets, and parade…

The feeling of arousing surprise for the observer is typical for the so-called Wunderkammer or Cabinets of curiosities.

Last month, the Viktor Wynd Museum of Curiosities, Fine Art & Natural History opened its doors on a clutter of curios in East London.

There are so many arresting wonders to be found on the Science Museum of London's newly launched (as of today!) web exhibit "Brought to Life: Exploring the History of Medicine" that I hardly know where to begin (and don't want to tear myself away for too long to write this post.) Suffice it to say, this easy-to-navigate, attractive, crammed-with-amazing-images website could easily occupy you for hours, if not weeks. Each of the 2,500 objects is interpreted with thorough-yet-concise text entries, and a handy feature suggests like-spirited images. You can peruse by material or technology, chronology, people, or theme or use the search function if you are seeking a particular kind of object. Above are just a very few of my hasty-first-perusal favorites. Many more to come (I have just barely begun to explore), but I HIGHLY suggest you visit the website yourself and do some perusing of your own! But maybe not if you have anything else you need to accomplish today.... Click here to visit the "Brought to Life" website. Click here (1, 2) for recent posts on the same topic. For more on the fascinating Henry Wellcome and his collection (which is featured in "Brought to Life"), see this recent post. All images © The Science Museum; Click on images to see larger versions.

Redwood Cabinet Today the Strychnin gallery opens an interesting new exhibition by American artist Madeline von Foerster that looks quite intriguing. All th

The German capital is equal parts fairytale, steam bath, and spy meet-up.