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Crafting Bodies
The crafting of bodies is a ritual as old as time. Representing the human form using non-human materials is a foundational feature of storytelling, learning, devotion and novelty.
The Museum of Fear and Wonder presents a new collection of crafted bodies in the form of automatons, mannequins, waxworks, votive figures and medical anatomies. By contrasting these wondrous figures, the barrier between genre and function loosens—allowing the distinction between body and object to do the same.
Crafting Bodies
The crafting of bodies is a ritual as old as time. Representing the human form using non-human materials is a foundational feature of storytelling, learning, devotion and novelty.
The Museum of Fear and Wonder presents a new collection of crafted bodies in the form of automatons, mannequins, waxworks, votive figures and medical anatomies. By contrasting these wondrous figures, the barrier between genre and function loosens—allowing the distinction between body and object to do the same.
Crafting Bodies
The crafting of bodies is a ritual as old as time. Representing the human form using non-human materials is a foundational feature of storytelling, learning, devotion and novelty.
The Museum of Fear and Wonder presents a new collection of crafted bodies in the form of automatons, mannequins, waxworks, votive figures and medical anatomies. By contrasting these wondrous figures, the barrier between genre and function loosens—allowing the distinction between body and object to do the same.
Rare Cuts
Rare Cuts: A History of Crafted Meat provides a taste of the Museum of Fear and Wonder’s research into the material and social traditions of manufactured meat. Crafted meats have long existed on the periphery of folk art. They are relegated to restaurant décor, museum history dioramas and the butcher shop wall. Whether used as didactics or menus, they rely on trompe l’oeil: visual trickery to summon gastronomic appeal and the presence of bodies not available in the flesh. Despite crafted meat’s ubiquity, there has been very little scholarly consideration given to these works’ manufacturing techniques, cultural importance, or artistic value. Representing years of collection and inquiry,
Rare Cuts provides the first comprehensive study of this craft’s technical and cultural production, predominantly in the western world, showcasing a wide variety of handmade examples salvaged from an industry increasingly reliant on synthetic and automated production. Display meats, whether handcrafted or manufactured, are created to look as fresh and appealing as possible. Red hues become specific. Hand painted white lines suggest tissues newly exposed to oxygen and glistening. The uncanny nature of crafted meat comes with a patina and aging, as their illusion of perpetual freshness breaks down. Their materials degrade. Their cut falls out of fashion.
The objects presented in this exhibit originated in butcher stores and restaurants, advertising, and museum dioramas. While many makers remain unknown, some objects can be attributed to business owners, prop builders, and craftspeople. Other objects were created by small manufacturing firms, doll house makers, and appliance companies such as Electrolux. From a 19th Century sewn textile chicken to contemporary hyper-realistic food replicas made in Japan, this exhibit spans a breadth of material craft guided by the mimicry of meat. Ephemera from the trade has also been included: business signs, childhood dioramas of the butcher shop, a stone whose resemblance to pork belly is valued for its metaphysical properties.
Rare Cuts is being presented at a time in which both meat manufacture and consumption are subjects of individual and societal reflection. In an era of lab-grown and “fake meats,” crafting meat now extends to gastronomic practice. Plant proteins are molded, modeled and colored to emulate flesh on many contemporary menus, while carnivorous diets are being challenged for their ecological impact and evolving notions of animal equity. Rare Cuts highlights how craft has perpetuated meat as symbols of power, prosperity, domestic ritual, and ethical debate.