PULLMAN, Wash. — Various artifacts and objects from separate collections at Washington State University will appear together in “The Raw and the Cooked: A Cabinet of Curiosities from the Collections of Washington State University” Sept. 4 to Oct. 14 in the WSU Fine Arts Center.
A reception and panel discussion will kick off the exhibition from 7 to 9:30 p.m. Sept. 4 in the Fine Arts Center.
The exhibition, hosted by WSU’s Museum of Art, widens the definition of art and collecting by bringing together items in the academic world that are rarely thought of as having connections to each other. It will draw from sources as varied as the Historic Textiles and Costume Collection to an entomology collection and the Nez Perce Music Archive.
The exhibition is based on the 17th-century concept of the “wunderkammer” or “cabinet of curiosities.” Early European explorers brought home collections of unfamiliar objects from their travels such as fossils, carvings, and unusual plants and animals. They displayed them together in “wunderkammern” or “wondercabinets,” rather than separating them into disciplines as museums typically do today.
The reception will feature refreshments and music by Carliol Consort, a Moscow, Idaho, duo performing medieval music. Panel participants from anthropology, fine arts, history, entomology and the museum will discuss the historical impetus from European expansion in the 16th century and the relationship between collecting and art.
For more information, contact Roslyn Wise, WSU Museum of Art, 509/335-1910.
