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Internet Randoms Fact-Check "Jurassic Technology"

Nowhere is the subtitle of "PST/ART: Art and Science Collide" better realized than at the Museum of Jurassic Technology. Founded by David and Diana Wilson in 1988, the storefront Culver City institution is a deadpan travesty of the authority of museums, science, and experts. MJT has been recognized with a MacArthur grant, a best-selling monograph, and now a Getty Trust-sponsored exhibition.

Yet a segment of the online public remains troubled by the museum, its ambiguity, and its continued existence. Here is the latest of LACM on Fire's occasional digests of aggrieved MJT reviews. 

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"I went with two teenage sons both love technology, fantasy, magic and science fiction. One said it was OK, and the other said it was a waste of time and money."

—ShiroWani, Eaton, Ohio, TripAdvisor

"If this review saves one person from going I’ll feel like I helped someone in this world."

—Raven Mackenzie, Google Maps

"Most of the ‘science’ is extremely questionable…"

—Rachel, Google Maps

"I don't think it even had a cogent theme." 

—Marc B., Poway, Calif., Yelp!

"Within an hour, I had low-level nausea…"

—Kickit, Reddit

"Not a good place."

—miles cabia, Google Maps

"This place should be banned to call itself 'museum'. You cannot sell drainage water calling [i]t orange juice, how come it doesn't apply on this scam.… They may have picked some crap from the trash can of the street and making a social experiment by displaying those crap in a tiny pathetic dark space"

—Burak Y, New York City, TripAdvisor

"Easily the worst, most confusing, and most pointless museum I have ever been to."

—Gian Gelormino, Google Maps

"SPOILER ALERT: READ NO FURTHER IF YOU STILL WANT TO VISIT THIS PLACE. Actually, and as its name warns, the Museum of Jurassic Technology turns out to be in large part a hoax, an elaborate joke, played on the visitor who comes with expectations of seeing the normal sort of museum, one that deals with scientific and historical fact."

—Taylor K, San Diego, TripAdvisor

The PST/ART exhibition "A Veiled Gazelle—Intimations of the Infinite and Eternal" opens at MJT Sep. 26, 2024.

Ceiling of the Museum of Jurassic Technology, Culver City
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Anonymous said…
I think it is a tribute to David Wilson's art that people are still being intellectually ambushed by this Baroque masterpiece of the post-modern era. The Getty knows it, the Macarthur Foundation gets it and so do the many dedicated art lovers who make their ways to the museum from all over the world. I suppose it's unfortunate that MJT alienated some of these visitors, but then isn't the natural audience a small and secret society of Illuminati? Say the word and the door opens upon treasures the eyes won't believe...
September 10, 2024 at 2:15 AM
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