"Daydreams of pre-scientific epochs" Bachelard (1958)
I've been thinking and reading about wonder. About how the creation of a wunderkammer (wonder-room) or cabinet of curiosities can, through the bringing together of human-made and natural objects invoke a sense of focused attention, absorption and surprise but also uncertainty and questioning. This 'deviation from the norm' is considered by Christian Mieves and Irene Brown in their book Wonder in Contemporary Art (2017) and is a thought provoking read. Through a series of essays, the book investigates the relationship between the visual arts and wonder, an overlooked connection but one which I am very much interested in exploring through my practice. The Limpetarium is concerned with what we know but but also what we don't know, a place where we can encounter the unknown. The Limpetarium is creating new combinations, questioning some of the categories with which we are familiar and perhaps challenging the way we experience the world, taking us, if only momentarily away from the everyday to another time and place...