A Room That Is a Poem

Installation view of "A Veiled Gazelle." Photo: Mike Kelley Foundation Instagram

The Museum of Jurassic Technology's contribution to PST ART is "A Veiled Gazelle—Intimations of the Infinite and Eternal." It debuts what might be called MJT's first period room, a fantasy space for exploring the geometric roots of the Islamic architecture of the Al-Andalus region. The room is no less an exercise in concrete poetry. A calligraphic frieze records the love poem by Sufi mystic and philosopher Ibn Arabi (1165-1240) that supplies the exhibition's title.

It is a cliché that no period room can be authentic. "A Veiled Gazelle" leans into the deepfakeness. It contains nothing of the time and place evoked. It is a Hollywood set sort of period room where the carvings are only plaster, made gorgeous by lighting. A newly made lacería ceiling of trompe l'oil woodwork simulates geometric braids. 

Lacería ceiling in "A Veiled Gazelle." Photo: Museum of Jurassic Technology

The Museum of Jurassic Technology is sometimes described (appreciatively or not) as an assortment of fake exhibits. But David and Diana Wilson have moved beyond the fact/fiction binary. They present, in David's words, "phenomena that other natural history museums are unwilling to present." "A Veiled Gazelle" is a pop-up museum-within-the-museum where you can learn a lot that is, as far as I can tell, actually true. Steampunk screens offer sepia-toned 3D videos. Text panels elucidate architecture, math, and eternity. But "A Veiled Gazelle" resists easy readings, as does Ibn Arabi's poetry:

A veiled gazelle’s

an amazing sight,

her henna hinting,

eyelids signalling

A pasture between 

breastbone and spine

Marvel, a garden

among the flames!

"A Veiled Gazelle" is to run through Sep. 1, 2025.