These Are Not Toys: A Sculptural and Photographic Exploration of Popular Palaeontology Representation in Museums and Toys Pre-Jurassic Park

Date
2023
Authors
Cook, Jacob
Supervisor
Amundsen, Fiona
Clemens, Eddie
Item type
Thesis
Degree name
Master of Visual Arts
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Auckland University of Technology
Abstract

This practice-led research explores the portrayal of prehistoric animals in toys, palaeoart, and museum displays pre the 1993 film Jurassic Park. Of interest is the ever-changing nature of pop-palaeontological culture and how this constant change is reflected in representations and reconstructions of prehistoric life. My research positions 1993 as a division between a pre-digital and digital age of pop-palaeontological culture and museum display methods, and identifies their common pre-digital physical properties. The project seeks to convey that within this context, outdated representations of pop-palaeontological culture and methods of museum display, do not necessarily infer irrelevant knowledge. By constructing a fictitious museum—called The Pop-Palaeo Museum—that uses multimedia sculptural and photographic methods, I express what is lost through a disregard for pre-digital museum displays and highlight the dinosaur as an ever-changing form. Specifically, my methods draw on analogue techniques, which are reworked through contemporary processes aligned with pre-1993 representations of prehistoric life.

Description
Keywords
Source
DOI
Publisher's version
Rights statement
Collections