Introducing the 'Bowl of Curiosities'

In the early 1990’s I read a book called ‘A Case of Curiosities’ by Allen Kurzweil. I really enjoyed the book but it was the idea of a ‘Case of Curiosities’ that captured my interest. In 16th and 17th Century Europe the wealthy might have a Wunderkammern — a wonder chamber.

The wonder chamber was a cabinet or room in which you displayed the curious and wonderous objects you had collected from around the world. Your collection could contain anything and everything, so it was a reflection of the idiosyncratic interests of the collector.

I have a strong attraction to this idea of wonderous collecting.

In the entrance hall to my house there is a small table on which sits a pottery dish or bowl. It has a mushroom theme, including pottering mushrooms growing in the bowl. The bowl was a wedding present given to us by a friend who well understands my interests and sense of humour. In our house, this bowl is known as the ‘Bowl of Curiosities’.

The Bowl of Curiosities has become the place where all the odds and ends I come across or find interesting are put. It has everything from items of interest (e.g. left over travel money from around the world, interesting rocks, and keyrings that caught my interest) to items of practical use (a penknife, pen refills, random nuts, bolts and screws, and those screwdrivers for removing really small screws). I don’t empty the Bowl of Curiosities, rather the items flow into and out of it. It never seems to overflow and it is always changing at the margins. I love the Bowl of Curiosities.  

This page is my digital Bowl of Curiosities. I have collected so much digital stuff over the years that I need to curate and store the most wonderous bits. I want to be able to look at my digital stuff, run my fingers through it, and I want to pick out a piece and stare at it. So, I made this page.

The idea is that I learn the discipline of curation but also to share the ideas and words that influence the essays on the other pages.