PhotoForum MoMento 5: Artificialia, Naturalia, & Mirabilia. Julie Downie, Heyes Johnson, Faye Norman, and Haruhiko Sameshima

Published by PhotoForum, May 2010

A reprint of the catalogue from the exhibition of the same name at Artstation Gallery, Auckland, 3 - 20 June 2009.

“The Wunderkammer was usually based on three categories of objects:

naturalia (natural objects), artificialia (man-made objects, including

natural ones altered by man), mirabilia (fantastic, unclassifiable objects).

It is the latter that, in many ways, have given the wonder-cabinet a

tainted reputation, because mirabilia also included the monstrous.

The juxtaposition of objects displayed within the wonder-cabinets

did vary, arranged by their owners, usually between the two poles of

naturalia and artificialia”.

from the included essay by Julie Downie

View as a PDF here