0:00:17 > 0:00:23In 1638, a German visitor to London stumbled upon something marvellous.
0:00:27 > 0:00:31Behind the door of a perfectly ordinary house in Lambeth
0:00:31 > 0:00:36was a room that contained the entire world and some things beyond it.
0:00:44 > 0:00:49There was a sea parrot, a toadfish, a number of things changed to stone
0:00:49 > 0:00:54and a robe that once belonged to the father of Pocahontas.
0:00:55 > 0:00:59This was John Tradescant's cabinet of curiosities -
0:00:59 > 0:01:03a place where you could see more strange and wonderful things
0:01:03 > 0:01:08in one room than if you devoted an entire lifetime to travel.
0:01:10 > 0:01:13Cabinets of curiosity were born out of the craze
0:01:13 > 0:01:19for collecting that gripped Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries.
0:01:21 > 0:01:23All those who could afford it
0:01:23 > 0:01:27filled their homes with a bewildering array of objects
0:01:27 > 0:01:30to impress and entertain their friends.
0:01:32 > 0:01:35Cabinets of curiosity have always fascinated me.
0:01:35 > 0:01:38Perhaps it's because of the time when as a fresh,
0:01:38 > 0:01:41wide-eyed undergraduate at Oxford University
0:01:41 > 0:01:44- jet-lagged, homesick, unused to the cold -
0:01:44 > 0:01:48my new friends dragged me here to the Ashmolean Museum
0:01:48 > 0:01:51and I found myself staring mesmerised
0:01:51 > 0:01:55at the very same array of curios that the German tourist
0:01:55 > 0:01:58had written about so many years ago.
0:02:02 > 0:02:05John Tradescant's cabinet of curiosities
0:02:05 > 0:02:09would eventually become The Ashmolean -
0:02:09 > 0:02:12the first purpose-built public museum in the world.
0:02:14 > 0:02:18But cabinets are part of an even bigger story
0:02:18 > 0:02:21- the story of how we discovered the world
0:02:21 > 0:02:24and came to understand our place within it.
0:02:28 > 0:02:32These eclectic collections would go in and out of fashion
0:02:32 > 0:02:34but their appeal never went away.
0:02:37 > 0:02:41And recently the cabinet's been having a renaissance,
0:02:41 > 0:02:46as contemporary curators and artists embraced the exhilarating
0:02:46 > 0:02:49eccentricity that 17th century collectors cast off.
0:02:55 > 0:03:00But the story starts, as good stories often do,
0:03:00 > 0:03:02with the opening of a box.
0:03:04 > 0:03:06A cabinet of curiosities.
0:03:26 > 0:03:30Britain has always been a nation of collectors.
0:03:30 > 0:03:36We collect, sort, classify and build shrines to our obsessions.
0:03:37 > 0:03:41From bottle-tops to the Elgin marbles.
0:03:41 > 0:03:43From the Tate Modern to Facebook.
0:03:46 > 0:03:50But to really understand our love-affair with objects,
0:03:50 > 0:03:52you need to go back to the 16th century.
0:03:55 > 0:04:00The first voyages of discovery and the explosion of global trade
0:04:00 > 0:04:03that followed was the Western world's big bang.
0:04:03 > 0:04:07This was the moment Britain's horizons expanded in a way
0:04:07 > 0:04:09they hadn't imagined before.
0:04:09 > 0:04:12The moment when for countless British travellers they
0:04:12 > 0:04:18encountered new places, new people and new things for the first time.
0:04:18 > 0:04:21For these early travellers in far flung lands,
0:04:21 > 0:04:24almost everything they saw was wondrous.
0:04:27 > 0:04:30Travel fuelled our desire to possess the strange things
0:04:30 > 0:04:33that were emerging from foreign places.
0:04:35 > 0:04:38And Renaissance collectors raided both time and space
0:04:38 > 0:04:41to get their hands on them.
0:04:42 > 0:04:46Copia, or plenty, was the buzzword of the day
0:04:46 > 0:04:49and everything was there for the taking.
0:04:49 > 0:04:52One Jacobean courtier made the mistake of mentioning
0:04:52 > 0:04:55to King James I these strange new things -
0:04:55 > 0:04:58Virginia squirrels which, they say, can fly.
0:04:58 > 0:05:02Of course, the monarch immediately demanded a few samples for himself.
0:05:06 > 0:05:10A proud collector didn't tuck his treasures away in a dusty attic.
0:05:10 > 0:05:15These strange items were intended for display,
0:05:15 > 0:05:18to entertain and impress your friends.
0:05:24 > 0:05:28The earliest collectors were monarchs and aristocrats
0:05:28 > 0:05:30who sought out valuable things.
0:05:30 > 0:05:34But by the time this collecting craze had reached British shores
0:05:34 > 0:05:37it had spread among the middling classes.
0:05:37 > 0:05:39People like scholars and priests
0:05:39 > 0:05:43and they had rather less money to spend on their hobby
0:05:43 > 0:05:47so their collecting focused mainly on natural objects
0:05:47 > 0:05:50and exotic things that were slightly less expensive.
0:05:50 > 0:05:55Things they could acquire from merchants and travellers.
0:05:58 > 0:06:02One of these middle-class collectors was John Bargrave,
0:06:02 > 0:06:06a clergyman who would later become canon of Canterbury Cathedral,
0:06:06 > 0:06:10where his collection is still housed today.
0:06:14 > 0:06:17Bargrave fled England during the Civil War
0:06:17 > 0:06:22and spent the 1640s and '50s travelling Europe and North Africa.
0:06:25 > 0:06:27He documented his adventures
0:06:27 > 0:06:30in a beautifully illustrated travel diary.
0:06:32 > 0:06:35The objects he collected still exist
0:06:35 > 0:06:38and are kept in his original cabinets.
0:06:40 > 0:06:43- How wonderful. Can we have a look inside?- Yes.
0:06:43 > 0:06:47We can start with this drawer here.
0:06:52 > 0:06:55- What is that?- This is a chameleon. - And that's kind of mummified?
0:06:55 > 0:06:57Or is it a...fossilised chameleon?
0:06:57 > 0:07:02Well, it's pickled, in effect.
0:07:02 > 0:07:08- There's a very nice story attached to this item.- What's that?
0:07:08 > 0:07:13Well, when Bargrave went to North Africa in 1662,
0:07:13 > 0:07:16he was given this chameleon as a curiosity.
0:07:16 > 0:07:21It was alive then so he brought it back on the ship with him.
0:07:21 > 0:07:24Bargrave and his travelling companions delighted in this
0:07:24 > 0:07:29little creature - fed it flies and poked it to get it to change colour.
0:07:29 > 0:07:33But as they travelled further north the temperature dropped,
0:07:33 > 0:07:37the supply of flies decreased and the chameleon died on board the ship.
0:07:37 > 0:07:42- Oh, no!- So Bargrave gave it to the cook on the ship
0:07:42 > 0:07:45- and he preserved it in brandy. - In brandy?
0:07:45 > 0:07:47Yes. That's what Bargrave says.
0:07:47 > 0:07:50- Can we see some more of these treasures?- Of course.
0:07:54 > 0:07:58- Oh. What's that? - That's a hippopotamus tooth,
0:07:58 > 0:08:04- which was quite a curiosity in the 17th century.- But what's that?
0:08:04 > 0:08:07Ah, yes. This is what's called the Frenchman's finger.
0:08:09 > 0:08:11- Is it a real finger?- It is.
0:08:11 > 0:08:14Where did he get that from?
0:08:14 > 0:08:18He got this from a monastery in Toulouse
0:08:18 > 0:08:22and the monastery had a catacomb of preserved bodies
0:08:22 > 0:08:26- because the bodies were mummified in the soil.- Right.
0:08:26 > 0:08:29So he not only viewed the bodies
0:08:29 > 0:08:32but he actually packed a piece of a body for himself.
0:08:32 > 0:08:37He was offered the complete mummified body of a small child
0:08:37 > 0:08:42but he didn't have room for it in his bag so settled for this instead.
0:08:42 > 0:08:45So portability was key when you're souvenir collecting.
0:08:45 > 0:08:50- Very much so in Bargrave's case. Yes. - Right. Show us some more.- OK.
0:08:51 > 0:08:53What's your favourite?
0:08:53 > 0:08:58Well, my favourite might be the item in this draw here,
0:08:58 > 0:09:00just because it's so beautifully made.
0:09:00 > 0:09:04They're very delicate. Lots of little spheres.
0:09:04 > 0:09:08- What is this? - It's the model of an eye.
0:09:08 > 0:09:11A model that was made of the human eye.
0:09:12 > 0:09:17Made out of ivory and finely turned wood. He got this in Venice.
0:09:17 > 0:09:19That's rather wonderful, isn't it?
0:09:19 > 0:09:23This is a product of new science of the period.
0:09:23 > 0:09:26The newest discoveries and how the human body works.
0:09:26 > 0:09:31And this travelling Englishman goes to Venice and picks up this working
0:09:31 > 0:09:35model of the eye and brings it back to be able to show his friends.
0:09:35 > 0:09:39Yes, absolutely. And he doesn't tell us that much about Venice,
0:09:39 > 0:09:41about the sights of Venice and the beauties of Venice,
0:09:41 > 0:09:45but he concentrates on the objects he acquired there.
0:09:48 > 0:09:50Bargrave's cabinets of curiosity
0:09:50 > 0:09:53were about spending time with objects,
0:09:53 > 0:09:59taking pleasure in small things and enjoying the stories they told.
0:10:01 > 0:10:04What I find interesting about these middle-ranking collectors
0:10:04 > 0:10:08like Bargrave is that they collected things
0:10:08 > 0:10:14not because they were costly or holy but just because they were curious.
0:10:18 > 0:10:22Bargrave's cabinets were relatively modest
0:10:22 > 0:10:28but some collectors amassed so many curios they occupied entire rooms.
0:10:30 > 0:10:33These "wonder rooms", as they were known,
0:10:33 > 0:10:38were microcosms of the world - the universe in miniature.
0:10:41 > 0:10:44A thing was considered particularly wondrous
0:10:44 > 0:10:47if it resisted classification.
0:10:53 > 0:10:55For example, a dodo was a thing of wonder
0:10:55 > 0:10:58because it was a flightless bird.
0:11:00 > 0:11:02But wonder is a tricky thing.
0:11:02 > 0:11:05The cabinet was meant to be a mirror to the world,
0:11:05 > 0:11:07an instrument of knowledge.
0:11:07 > 0:11:10But wonder can very quickly turn into an obsession.
0:11:10 > 0:11:14Some of the things that were most prized by collectors
0:11:14 > 0:11:16were things that were monstrous.
0:11:16 > 0:11:18In the Middle Ages,
0:11:18 > 0:11:21freaks of nature were considered marks of ill-omen
0:11:21 > 0:11:24but a Renaissance scholar might look at the same thing
0:11:24 > 0:11:27and see a conundrum, an enigma to be solved.
0:11:27 > 0:11:33So dwarves, hirsute or two-headed men were all in great demand.
0:11:40 > 0:11:42By placing objects side by side,
0:11:42 > 0:11:45collectors were trying to organise the world
0:11:45 > 0:11:48and understand it more deeply.
0:11:51 > 0:11:53The way you displayed your collection
0:11:53 > 0:11:56depended on the story that you wanted to tell.
0:11:56 > 0:12:00The kind of image of the world and of yourself
0:12:00 > 0:12:02that you wanted the collection to reflect.
0:12:04 > 0:12:07I'm intrigued by the passion
0:12:07 > 0:12:10that drove those early cabinet enthusiasts.
0:12:12 > 0:12:15So I've come to meet a modern-day collector.
0:12:18 > 0:12:22Viktor Wynd has created his own wonder room
0:12:22 > 0:12:24in the East End of London.
0:12:25 > 0:12:28How long have you been collecting?
0:12:28 > 0:12:31I've been collecting since I was a child. I've just never stopped.
0:12:31 > 0:12:33I've never grown out of it.
0:12:33 > 0:12:35You mean that first pebble of a weird shape?
0:12:35 > 0:12:38First pebble, yes,
0:12:38 > 0:12:41the shells from the beach or the pretty piece of wood.
0:12:43 > 0:12:47- So there is an immense temptation to get more things?- I'm a magpie.
0:12:47 > 0:12:50It's a disease. I can't help myself.
0:12:50 > 0:12:53So will you show me some of your favourite items?
0:12:53 > 0:12:57It's very difficult to have favourites amongst children.
0:12:57 > 0:13:00I love everything equally.
0:13:00 > 0:13:03I'm not sure I like anything on its own. I like them together.
0:13:03 > 0:13:08So here you have a non-identified deep sea worm,
0:13:08 > 0:13:11you have prison drawings by Charles Bronson,
0:13:11 > 0:13:14every single English species of butterfly -
0:13:14 > 0:13:18the results of my misspent childhood -
0:13:18 > 0:13:22the preserved front bottoms of Victorian prostitutes,
0:13:22 > 0:13:27tribal sculptures I brought back from the Congo, dead babies...
0:13:30 > 0:13:32..a giant spider that I found in my tent...
0:13:34 > 0:13:37..the skull of an executed felon from the 19th century...
0:13:40 > 0:13:42..the giant Japanese spider crab,
0:13:42 > 0:13:45though it's only actually a small one.
0:13:45 > 0:13:47I had a much bigger one but I had to sell it
0:13:47 > 0:13:49to pay for the disabled loo upstairs.
0:13:53 > 0:13:57What do you think the cabinet of curiosity
0:13:57 > 0:13:59- this one in particular - kind of says about you?
0:13:59 > 0:14:02Is this a kind of reflection of your identity?
0:14:02 > 0:14:07I think...I feel it's maybe that in reverse.
0:14:07 > 0:14:09It's part of me.
0:14:09 > 0:14:14It's a sort of section of my brain or my understanding of the world.
0:14:30 > 0:14:34The early collectors Viktor admires didn't amass cabinets simply
0:14:34 > 0:14:38because they were drawn to things that were strange and wonderful.
0:14:41 > 0:14:43A well-stocked collection
0:14:43 > 0:14:46was the key to improving your social standing.
0:14:47 > 0:14:52And two men achieved this rather more successfully than most.
0:14:54 > 0:14:59John Tradescant and his son, John Tradescant Junior,
0:14:59 > 0:15:01were of relatively humble stock.
0:15:01 > 0:15:04But as head gardeners to Charles I
0:15:04 > 0:15:07they had the opportunity to travel widely
0:15:07 > 0:15:10in search of plants for the royal garden.
0:15:12 > 0:15:16The cabinet of curiosities that John Tradescant built up in his house
0:15:16 > 0:15:21in Lambeth became a must-see destination for visitors to London.
0:15:22 > 0:15:26Tradescant himself was seen as a contemporary Noah
0:15:26 > 0:15:29and his collection was affectionately nicknamed The Arc.
0:15:32 > 0:15:35With their cabinet of curiosities,
0:15:35 > 0:15:39the Tradescants built up a snapshot of their world.
0:15:41 > 0:15:44Through their collection we can read their interests,
0:15:44 > 0:15:48anxieties and peculiar fascinations
0:15:48 > 0:15:53and share the sheer exhilaration of being alive in a world
0:15:53 > 0:15:55that had suddenly grown bigger
0:15:55 > 0:15:58through global trade and exploration.
0:16:01 > 0:16:03This is a really good example of that great
0:16:03 > 0:16:05excitement of global travel.
0:16:05 > 0:16:07John Tradescant Junior said that this was
0:16:07 > 0:16:10the mantle of the King of Virginia.
0:16:10 > 0:16:12He meant, of course, Powhatan,
0:16:12 > 0:16:16the leader or chief of the Algonquian tribe.
0:16:16 > 0:16:20But we probably know Powhatan better as the father of Pocahontas.
0:16:20 > 0:16:24We don't know where the Tradescants got this mantle.
0:16:24 > 0:16:27We don't know whether this is a mantle at all.
0:16:27 > 0:16:30It's probably more likely to be a ceremonial wall hanging.
0:16:30 > 0:16:34And, in fact, we don't quite know
0:16:34 > 0:16:36whether this has anything to do with Powhatan.
0:16:36 > 0:16:39But this we know - that when Pocahontas was brought over
0:16:39 > 0:16:42to England and wined and dined by royalty,
0:16:42 > 0:16:45people would have been desperate to get a glimpse
0:16:45 > 0:16:48of the world that she had come from.
0:16:48 > 0:16:50So people would have thronged to the Tradescant
0:16:50 > 0:16:54cabinet of curiosity to see this mantle,
0:16:54 > 0:16:58have a little bit of the New World literally within their reach.
0:16:58 > 0:17:01In fact, if you look carefully, you can see little bits
0:17:01 > 0:17:05of the mantle where people have plucked out cowrie shells.
0:17:05 > 0:17:09Of course, this is long before our time where museum objects
0:17:09 > 0:17:12have been vacuum-sealed away from visitors' hands.
0:17:17 > 0:17:21The story of how John Tradescant's curiosities
0:17:21 > 0:17:24found their way into one of the most renowned museums in the world
0:17:24 > 0:17:28is a dark tale of duplicity and one-upmanship.
0:17:32 > 0:17:37When John Tradescant Junior decided to print a catalogue
0:17:37 > 0:17:40to publicise their collection, he made one big mistake.
0:17:42 > 0:17:45He enlisted the help of his neighbour, Elias Ashmole,
0:17:45 > 0:17:49a shrewd lawyer who was an even more determined
0:17:49 > 0:17:51social climber than he was.
0:17:55 > 0:17:59Ashmole understood the kudos that went with a well-known
0:17:59 > 0:18:01and really extensive collection.
0:18:01 > 0:18:05He had amassed quite an impressive cabinet of curiosities himself.
0:18:05 > 0:18:09But he had his eyes on the much better-known
0:18:09 > 0:18:14and much more extensive collection of his neighbours, the Tradescants.
0:18:17 > 0:18:21Ashmole paid for the publication of John Tradescant's catalogue.
0:18:22 > 0:18:25So although it was published under the Tradescant name,
0:18:25 > 0:18:28Ashmole was already beginning
0:18:28 > 0:18:32to associate himself with the collection.
0:18:32 > 0:18:37When Tradescant Junior died, he left his collection to his wife
0:18:37 > 0:18:40with instructions that on her death it should be given to Oxford
0:18:40 > 0:18:42or Cambridge University.
0:18:44 > 0:18:46Ashmole seized his chance.
0:18:46 > 0:18:50He approached Oxford University about gifting them
0:18:50 > 0:18:53the Tradescant collection with two provisos.
0:18:53 > 0:18:57Firstly, that it should be housed in a purpose-built new museum
0:18:57 > 0:19:00and secondly, that it should be open to the public.
0:19:00 > 0:19:04But in doing so, Elias Ashmole was styling himself
0:19:04 > 0:19:09ever so subtly as both the owner and the donor of this collection.
0:19:15 > 0:19:20When Tradescant's widow died two years later Ashmole moved quickly,
0:19:20 > 0:19:23taking out a lease on Tradescant's home
0:19:23 > 0:19:26and taking possession of the collection it contained.
0:19:29 > 0:19:34It took Oxford University six years to complete the impressive new home
0:19:34 > 0:19:36for the Tradescant's treasures.
0:19:38 > 0:19:44But on 21st May 1683, the building finally opened its doors
0:19:44 > 0:19:48and became the first purpose-built public museum in the world.
0:19:52 > 0:19:55The new building was named not after the Tradescants,
0:19:55 > 0:19:58whose collection of curiosities it housed,
0:19:58 > 0:20:02but the Ashmolean Museum after Elias Ashmole.
0:20:02 > 0:20:04His grand plan was complete.
0:20:09 > 0:20:14Ashmole died without an heir, but his name is very much with us.
0:20:14 > 0:20:16As his epitaph states,
0:20:16 > 0:20:21"As long as the Ashmolean Museum endures, he will never die."
0:20:24 > 0:20:27All of Tradescant's wonders were now accessible
0:20:27 > 0:20:31to everyone who could play the sixpence entry fee.
0:20:31 > 0:20:33One early visitor enthused,
0:20:33 > 0:20:37"The Ashmolean is absolutely the best collection
0:20:37 > 0:20:41"of such rarities that I have ever beheld."
0:20:42 > 0:20:46But not everyone took kindly to a load of ordinary people
0:20:46 > 0:20:49wandering around in search of easy entertainment.
0:20:51 > 0:20:54One aristocrat, visiting on market day,
0:20:54 > 0:20:58complained the museum was, "full of all sorts of country folk."
0:21:00 > 0:21:03Worse still, even women were allowed in.
0:21:03 > 0:21:08"They run here and there grabbing at everything," he grumbled.
0:21:16 > 0:21:20But the museum's opening coincided with a cooling off
0:21:20 > 0:21:23of our love affair with the Cabinet of Curiosities.
0:21:28 > 0:21:32The Cabinet with its marvellous monstrosities was at odds
0:21:32 > 0:21:35with the new 17th-century spirit of enlightenment.
0:21:37 > 0:21:42This was a period obsessed with systematic order and classification.
0:21:46 > 0:21:50The once loved Cabinet became seen as a chaotic freak show
0:21:50 > 0:21:55and many private collections were donated to modern museums.
0:21:58 > 0:22:02In these new, well-ordered exhibition spaces,
0:22:02 > 0:22:05the antique was set apart from the contemporary,
0:22:05 > 0:22:08the natural wonders from the artificial.
0:22:10 > 0:22:12And the dizzying variety of the Cabinet
0:22:12 > 0:22:16was rationally re-arranged, like with like.
0:22:20 > 0:22:23But there's something about the Cabinet
0:22:23 > 0:22:26that we could never quite leave behind.
0:22:26 > 0:22:28I think it's the tantalising contradiction
0:22:28 > 0:22:31that lies at its heart.
0:22:31 > 0:22:33On the one hand, there's that urge
0:22:33 > 0:22:37to categorise and understand the world,
0:22:37 > 0:22:40but on the other, there's that equally strong urge
0:22:40 > 0:22:44to experience wonder, for the world to defy our understanding.
0:22:49 > 0:22:54While modern museums cater for that appetite for education and knowledge,
0:22:54 > 0:22:57contemporary curators and artists
0:22:57 > 0:23:00are responding to our yearning for wonder,
0:23:00 > 0:23:05borrowing from the Cabinet's startling juxtaposition of objects
0:23:05 > 0:23:09to force us to look at the world with fresh eyes.
0:23:12 > 0:23:14From the shocking physicality
0:23:14 > 0:23:18of Damien Hirst's animals in formaldehyde displayed in tanks...
0:23:21 > 0:23:25..to Polly Morgan's reinvention of taxidermy,
0:23:25 > 0:23:31creating unsettling pieces that are both familiar and strange.
0:23:35 > 0:23:39And Grayson Perry's clever curation at the British Museum,
0:23:39 > 0:23:43mixing age-old artefacts with new pieces of his own.
0:23:47 > 0:23:51But perhaps the most deliberate appropriators of the Cabinet
0:23:51 > 0:23:54are London artists, The Connor Brothers.
0:23:54 > 0:23:57Their Cabinet-themed show
0:23:57 > 0:24:01contained new works that are a puzzling blend of fact and fiction.
0:24:03 > 0:24:06Fellow Cabinet lover, Philip Hoare,
0:24:06 > 0:24:10joined me to explore their disconcerting Wonder Room.
0:24:14 > 0:24:16Wolphin. SHE LAUGHS
0:24:16 > 0:24:19A whale/dolphin. I couldn't quite work out what that is, actually.
0:24:19 > 0:24:23False killer whale. Is that false killer whale mashed up with a bottle-nosed dolphin?
0:24:23 > 0:24:25- It's got that weird...- Yeah.
0:24:25 > 0:24:28Actually, it's been turned on its head there. Look.
0:24:28 > 0:24:31- There's teeth marks, look.- Oh, right!
0:24:31 > 0:24:33Pockets, look. So it's been... SHE LAUGHS
0:24:33 > 0:24:36They've mashed something on to the top of it.
0:24:44 > 0:24:47- Gosh!- Oh, goodness! Look at that!
0:24:47 > 0:24:50What's that?! SHE LAUGHS
0:24:50 > 0:24:53- Gold...?!- Gold plated?! - Gold plated?!
0:24:53 > 0:24:57Pablo Escobar's Gold Plated Hippopotamus Skull.
0:24:57 > 0:24:59Can you believe that?! SHE LAUGHS
0:24:59 > 0:25:02- I'd love to believe it. It's a good story, isn't it?- I guess so.
0:25:02 > 0:25:06If you're going to have a gold-plated hippopotamus skull,
0:25:06 > 0:25:09- it should belong to a Colombian cocaine baron, I think.- Absolutely.
0:25:09 > 0:25:12And I love the notion that they imported hippos to Columbia.
0:25:12 > 0:25:17But that's the good thing about these collections of curiosities isn't it,
0:25:17 > 0:25:19- each object has to have a story. - Yeah.
0:25:19 > 0:25:23And I don't know if we sometimes wonder,
0:25:23 > 0:25:26or does it even matter whether it's true or not?
0:25:26 > 0:25:27I don't think it does, does it?
0:25:27 > 0:25:30I mean, it's what's been invested in that object, isn't it?
0:25:30 > 0:25:34- It's what it's been charged with, it's kind of a narrative.- Hmm.
0:25:48 > 0:25:50So why do you think contemporary artists
0:25:50 > 0:25:55are so fascinated with the idea of cabinets of curiosity?
0:25:55 > 0:26:00There's so much in the last decade or so that plays with that concept.
0:26:00 > 0:26:02I think it's looking back to a period
0:26:02 > 0:26:06before art became digital and conceptual, back to the real object.
0:26:06 > 0:26:10I mean, I think in a way it started with Damien Hirst with those tanks.
0:26:10 > 0:26:14You know, there couldn't be anything more...more of an extraordinary take
0:26:14 > 0:26:18on the cabinet of curiosities as The Physical Impossibility Of Death In The Mind Of Someone Living.
0:26:18 > 0:26:23- Yeah.- Hirst's shark. Suddenly you're face to face, mouth to mouth
0:26:23 > 0:26:25with this leviathan, this beast.
0:26:25 > 0:26:29We weren't used to seeing things like that in a museum, in the gallery situation.
0:26:29 > 0:26:33And, of course, addressing notions of mortality as well.
0:26:33 > 0:26:36One of the things that always fascinates me about cabinets of curiosity
0:26:36 > 0:26:39is that they have a real obsession with death.
0:26:39 > 0:26:42Absolutely. And it's the memento mori, isn't it?
0:26:42 > 0:26:46It's the notion of what something is speaking of your own mortality,
0:26:46 > 0:26:48it's challenging your mortality,
0:26:48 > 0:26:52- it's showing you, you know, this is a mirror held up to you.- Yes.
0:26:52 > 0:26:55But, I suppose, it's also strangely comforting then
0:26:55 > 0:26:58if you have a cabinet where you're collecting these things,
0:26:58 > 0:27:00little fragments of existence
0:27:00 > 0:27:04that you're shoring up against the passage of time.
0:27:04 > 0:27:06I think that's a really good point.
0:27:06 > 0:27:09It's almost as though you close the doors on your own mortality,
0:27:09 > 0:27:14carefully controlled and shut away, you know, with these strange things.
0:27:30 > 0:27:32Back in the 16th century,
0:27:32 > 0:27:35cabinets of curiosity allowed bold adventurers
0:27:35 > 0:27:38to make sense of the wonders they were discovering.
0:27:41 > 0:27:45Today, modern technology has turned us all into collectors.
0:27:45 > 0:27:50With mobile phones, we snap up the places we've been,
0:27:50 > 0:27:52the weird and wonderful things we've seen,
0:27:52 > 0:27:55even the food we eat.
0:27:55 > 0:27:58Through Instagram and Pinterest,
0:27:58 > 0:28:01we curate our own lives.
0:28:01 > 0:28:03And, just like those early collectors,
0:28:03 > 0:28:06we present the things that make us appear
0:28:06 > 0:28:09as interesting and well-travelled as possible.
0:28:12 > 0:28:15Every cabinet of curiosity was a miniature universe
0:28:15 > 0:28:19and each collector curated his own individual version.
0:28:19 > 0:28:23So every cabinet told a story not just about the world,
0:28:23 > 0:28:26but about the collector himself.
0:28:26 > 0:28:32So in some ways these dusty, eccentric, antique collections
0:28:32 > 0:28:35tell us a story that is startlingly modern,
0:28:35 > 0:28:38that there is no singular truth about the world,
0:28:38 > 0:28:43just many different stories seen through many different eyes.