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SUMMARY:Saved by servitude: the display of horses at the Natural History M
 useum in London - Allison Ksiazkiewicz (Department of History and Philosop
 hy of Science)
DTSTART:20080310T130000Z
DTEND:20080310T141500Z
UID:TALK9542@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Salim Al-Gailani
DESCRIPTION:Displays of the domestic horse bracket the beginning and end o
 f the visitor’s tour of Mammal Hall in the Natural History Museum at Sou
 th Kensington.  The exhibits offer to the viewer three distinct modes of l
 ooking: first\, the specimen’s body is opened for display\; second\, vie
 wers are encouraged to sleuth the exhibition cases\; and third\, the exhib
 its employ repetition and miniaturization as visual guide-posts for the vi
 sitor to recognize salient aspects of the specimens\, and to interpret the
 m within the curatorial framework that blankets the exhibition as a whole:
  “What Makes a Mammal?”  The contents of these exhibition cases are me
 diated by the display practices employed\, and are intended as educational
  devices that instruct the viewer about mammals and their extinct fossil r
 elatives.  The two displays were part of a larger Museum curatorial and re
 vitalization project that was formalized in 1972\, during which the displa
 ys of Mammal Hall were reevaluated.  Old dioramas were dismantled and tran
 sformed into new\, instructive exhibits that taught the visitor how to ‘
 look’ at the animals depicted in the galleries.  Historical and contempo
 rary use of the displayed specimens will be considered as well as the impo
 rtance of the domestic horse within the history of the Museum.
LOCATION:Seminar Room 1\, Department of History and Philosophy of Science
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