WUNDERKAMMER @ Gallery Rumbler Zurich
From December 9. 2021
Vernissage 9.12.21 from 6pm till 9.30pm
Galerie Rumbler
Kirchgasse 50
8001 Zürich
Collecting the world
From the 16th century onwards, collections of objects from the fields of natural history, geology, archaeology, religion or art were known as “WUNDERKAMMER”. In addition to educational and edifying purposes, these collections, which were created on a large scale, also served representational purposes. The earliest depiction of a cabinet of curiosities in the style of a “WUNDERKAMMER” is found in Ferrante Imperator’s “Dell’ Historia Naturale” (Naples 1599).
Behind the collection concept of the “WUNDERKAMMER” was the metaphor of a theatrum mundi, the idea of a universal connection of all things. Cabinets of curiosities were regarded as “mirrors of creation”, a microcosm as a reflection of the macrocosm.
Among the highlights of the objects on display in the exhibition are the complete skeleton of a pterosaur, one of the 10 largest Mars meteorites on earth, fascinating stone sculptures from France, as well as original film props from great cinema classics.
The objects from Christian D. Link’s WUNDERKAMMER, which will be on display in the Rumbler Gallery from December 9th 2021, may open up an unknown, fascinating world to the visitor “that one is amazed by it and forgets his mouth is open”, as a visitor to the private collection of the city doctor Felix Platter in Basel aptly described it in 1612.
