Tag Archives | museums

Napalm Death’s Music So Loud It Could Damage London Museum

By majestic on March 21, 2013 in News 0

Could this be the ultimate compliment for a metal band: their planned gig at the venerable Victoria & Albert Museum in London has been canceled as the museum is worried that their music is so loud it could damage the building, reports Reuters:

London’s famed Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) has canceled an experimental concert by extreme metal band Napalm Death, fearing the noise level could damage the 104-year-old building.

Ceramic artist Keith Harrison from the V&A, the world’s largest museum of decorative arts and design, collaborated with Napalm Death on a set to be played through a sculptural sound system which would disintegrate under decibel stress.

But museum officials said the one-off performance, scheduled for Friday in the V&A’s Europe Galleries, had been canceled out of concern it was not only the intended sculpture that would be damaged.

“A further safety inspection has revealed concerns that the high level of decibels generated by the concert would damage the historic fabric of the building,” a museum statement said…

[continues at Reuters]… Read the rest

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The Guantanamo Bay Museum Of Art And History

By JacobSloan on October 3, 2012 in News 1

Visible in Google Maps, the Guantanamo Bay Museum of Art and History exists hypothetically rather than physically, predicated on an alternate reality in which Barack Obama shut down the Guantanamo Bay detention center earlier this year and converted it into a historic site and cultural institution:

The Guantanamo Bay Museum of Art and History, located at the former site of the Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp in Cuba, is an institution dedicated to remembering the U.S. prison which was active between 2002 and 2012 before it was permanently decommissioned and closed. The museum offers free guided talks and discussions on both the history of the detention camp, its closure, as well as the processes that brought the museum into existence.

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Creationism ‘Hall Of Fame’ Museum To Be Built In Kentucky

By JacobSloan on August 31, 2012 in News 8

Pack the kids in the car and take them to see all of their favorite creationist heroes — a perfect unlearning opportunity. The Guardian reports:

A stretch of interstate in northern Kentucky may soon be the official capital for creationism fans across the globe. Online-only institution the Creation Science Hall of Fame hopes to establish a real-life creationism center located between the Creation Museum and planned creationism theme park Ark Encounter.

The hall of fame website was launched in February and honors “those who honored God’s word as literally written in Genesis.” Any scientist who the institution believes furthers the scientifically inaccurate idea that God created the world 6,000 years ago can be included.

There are several creationism institutions in the US, including another creation museum in Texas and a mobile museum that takes fossil exhibits to churches and schools. The hall of fame would solidify northern Kentucky as the center for creation-tourism.

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Visiting The International Museum Of Cryptozoology

By JacobSloan on August 31, 2012 in News 1

When I have children someday, our weekend afternoon trips will be to the other zoo. Atlas Obscura on your new favorite cultural institution, the Portland, Maine-based Cryptozoology Museum, which offers Bigfoot poop, among other attractions:

Loren Coleman started pursuing unusual, often inexplicable animals in 1960, and has since become one of the world’s foremost experts in the field of cryptozoology. The discipline, as defined by the master himself, “is the study of hidden or unknown animals. Zoological species that, to-date, remain unverified by science, such as Yetis, Bigfoot, Lake Monsters, and Sea Serpents, as well as hundreds of other yet-to-be-found animals (cryptids) worldwide. It also encompasses the study of animals of recent discovery, such as the coelacanth, okapi, megamouth shark, giant panda, and mountain gorilla.”

Coleman has amassed an unrivaled collection of specimens, replicas, and artifacts relating to famous and lesser-known cryptids, including the eight-and-a-half foot tall, 300-pound “Crookston Bigfoot,” a life-size coelacanth, P.

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The Museum Of Endangered Sounds

By JacobSloan on June 22, 2012 in News 2

How do we preserve the fabric of everyday life from other eras? The online Museum of Endangered Sounds is a marvelous emporium of aural preservation, simulating what being alive in the 1990s sounded like, with tones unheard for years available for listening. Creator Brendan Chilcutt explains:

I launched the site in January of 2012 as a way to preserve the sounds made famous by my favorite old technologies and electronics equipment. For instance, the textured rattle and hum of a VHS tape being sucked into the womb of a 1983 JVC HR-7100 VCR. As you probably know, it’s a wonderfully complex sound, subtle yet unfiltered.

My ten-year plan is to complete the data collection phase by the year 2015, and spend the next seven years developing the proper markup language to reinterpret the sounds as a binary composition.

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Turkey’s Museum Of Hair

By JacobSloan on April 15, 2011 in News 2

Oddity Central examines one of the planet’s most disturbing “museums,” The Hair Museum in Avanos, Turkey. Every inch of every surface is covered in human hair, culled from tens of thousands of women and tagged and labeled. Great fun for the whole family!

The Hair Museum of Avanos, in Cappadocia, is definitely a must-see if you’re into bizarre tourist spots.

Ever since 3000 BC, Avanos has been known for its high quality earthenware, made from the mineral-rich mud of the Red River, but in recent years, the town has mostly been mentioned in relation to a unique hair museum created by skilled Turkish potter Chez Galip. The unusual establishment, located under Galip’s pottery shop, is filled with hair samples from over 16,000 women. The walls, ceiling, and all other surfaces, except the floor, are covered with locks of hair from the different women who have visited this place, and pieces of paper with addresses on them.

… Read the rest

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