Wonder, beauty and curiosity. That will be central in the new exhibition from next week Microkosmos-de Wereld in a Wunderkammer from the Drents Museum. Visual arts and contemporary oddities come together.
It is the farewell exhibition of general director Harry Tupan. He has taken everything out of the closet for this retrospective. As a compiler, Tupan has scoured the city and country in search of classic Wunderkammer objects.
Such a collection starts with wonder. For example, museum director Harry Tupan himself once started. That wonder for beautiful, special and crazy objects is shared by Lenn (8) from Assen and Jonathan (7) from Hooghalen.
“This is the spring of a parrot,” Jonathan proudly shows. “I found it in a park. The great thing about it is that the spring has very different colors.”
Feathers, shells and stones are the passion of the small collector from Hooghalen. “When I see a pebble, I don’t pick it up. But I see a crystal, I immediately take it with me.”
Lenn shares Jonathan’s passion. “I also like stones and shells, but I think my collection set up beetles are the most special.” He also has a stuffed scorpion, bird spider and a rhino beetle.
Tanja Annen from the Drents Museum wanted to give the young collectors a stage in the new exhibition. In a special room, the Wonderlab, the boys can display their finds in a display case. “They earn such a platform. Thanks to their collection, visitors can once again wonder about the passion of these children.”
The collection of both boys is greater than fits in the display case. And so they have to make choices. “What should certainly be exhibited is my smallest find,” says Jonathan. “I know it is a special arrowhead, but I don’t remember the name anymore. It is very long.”
“True”, Annen laughs. “That is probably a bifacial transversal striker.”
From next week, September 6, that arrowhead and the rest can be seen in the new Microkosmos exhibition. Although the young collectors are very proud of their showcases, there is one downside. “Then I can no longer look at my collection every day.”