The
following
photographic-rich
article
about the culture, history and art of the Cabinet of
Curiosities was produced on the occasion of the solo
fine art exhibition by Takeshi Yamada entitled “Takeshi
Yamada’s Museum of World Wonders: Cabinet of
Curiosities” at the Brooklyn Public Library – Coney
Island Branch in Coney Island area of Brooklyn, New
York. The manuscript was produced by Dr. Eriko N. Bond,
noted art critic and book author in New York City, as
told by Takeshi Yamada. Photographs featured in this
article were taken by Yamada, his friends and
associates.
Six-fingered international trade merchant in 1560,
(Self-portrait)
Takeshi Yamada, 32x24 inch, oil/acrylic on canvas, 2000
Coney
Island Library
The Coney Island Branch
of Brooklyn Public Library started as an unstaffed
deposit station in a Surf Avenue store in 1911. (The
year 1911 is a very significant year because it was a
year when a deadly fire destroyed one of the major
amusement parks in Coney Island at the opening of the
season. It is called Dreamland Fire of 1911.) It became
a fully staffed branch in 1921 after moving to the old
offices of the Coney Island Times on Stillwell Ave. In
1954, the new library was called "the first-ever library
built on stilts over the Atlantic Ocean." The two-story
building contains the Library and Learning Center. It
was renovated in 2001.
(left)
The renovated Coney Island Library, which is less than
ten minutes walking distance from Yamada’s house.
(right) “The Eiffel Tower of Brooklyn”, Landmark
Parachute Jump Tower, seen from the library entrance.
Keyspan Park and baseball stadium, built in 2001, is
adjacent to the Parachute Jump Tower. The stadium
stands
on the former location of Steeplechase Park (The Funny
Place). This amusement park was one of
the
most famous and influential amusement parks in the
industry's history. (photos by Takeshi Yamada)
The Coney Island
Library is only two blocks from the Parachute Jump. The
80-meter (262 feet) tall Parachute Jump ride was built
for the 1939 New York World's Fair in Flushing Meadows
Corona Park, Queens, and was subsequently moved to its
current site. It became part of Steeplechase Park in
1941, and is the only portion of Steeplechase Park still
standing today. The ride ceased operation in the 1960s.
In 2005 and 2006, the tower was repaired, repainted, and
many decorative flashing lights were installed. The
tower is also visible from the window of Yamada’s house.
The
Parachute Jump Tower at Coney Island Beach (photo by
Takeshi Yamada, 2004)
Takeshi Yamada’s Cabinet of Curiosities at Coney Island
Library
An exhibition entitled
“Takeshi Yamada’s Museum of World Wonders: Cabinet of
Curiosities” is on view at the
Brooklyn Public Library – Coney Island Branch. This
continuous, 15-month solo exhibition opened on October
2, 2006 and is scheduled to run through December 31,
2007. The contents of the cabinet of curiosities are
scheduled to change every month. At the opening
reception on October 27, Yamada gave a lecture and
undertook interactive public fine art performances.
Exhibition posters created by Takeshi Yamada’s Museum of
World Wonders
Although
the
Coney Island Branch of the Brooklyn Public Library has
occupied its current prime location since 1954, Cabinets
of Curiosities have never been exhibited there. Nor have
they ever shown Coney Island style circus sideshow
art/culture/history exhibitions before. The reason is
simple: No business minded circus sideshow owners would
ever display their curiosities for free because their
living depends upon making a profit from charging people
to see the spectacle.
When the director of the library’s event programs,
Stephan Stickney, learned about Takeshi Yamada and his
circus sideshow exhibitions, he awarded Yamada a
15-month-long continuous exhibition at his library in
Coney Island. For Takeshi Yamada’s Museum of World
Wonders, this is one of many free community outreach
programs in addition to many for-profit commercial
exhibitions) in New York City area. Yamada had
thirty-one exhibitions including three solo art
exhibitions in 2006 all over America. Yamada had over
370 art exhibitions internationally including Spain, The
Netherlands, Japan and the United States. Yamada has
been considered one of the most active, recognized,
respected and influential artists in New York City. This
is Yamada’s 38th solo art exhibition since he moved to
America from Japan in 1983.
October’s Cabinet of Curiosities
On the occasion of the
popular secular American holiday called “Halloween”,
Yamada selected curiosities for installation. The theme
for this month is “Cabinet of Halloween Curiosities”.
“Takeshi Yamada’s Museum of World Wonders: Cabinet of
Curiosities”
installed in the front lobby of the Coney Island Branch
of Brooklyn
Public
Library. (Photograph by Eriko N. Bond on October 10,
2006)
Here is the list of
specimens and artifacts on display.
1.
Three-eyed Human Skull
2.
Black and white photograph of Takeshi Yamada
(by fashion
photographer Evon Davis)
3.
Two-headed and Six-fingered Alchemist (color
announcement card)
4.
Shrunken Human Head
5.
Egyptian Cat Mummy
6.
Giant Spotted Carnivorous Snail
7.
Japanese Samurai Warrior’s Ceremonial
Reincarnation Mask
8.
Coney Island Brand Exotic Canned Food: Desert
Hairy Scorpion
9.
Coney Island Brand Exotic Canned Food: Imperial
Turkey (Four-legged hybrid turkey)
10.
Coney Island Brand Exotic Canned Food: Madagascar
Giant Hissing Cockroach
11.
Coney Island Brand Exotic Canned Food: Nekomata
(Two-tailed Japanese monstrous cat eaten in Korea)
12.
Coney Island Brand Exotic Canned Food: Giant
Vampire Bat
13.
Coney Island Brand Exotic Canned Food: King
Tarantula (The largest Tarantula species eaten in Asian
countries)
14.
Coney Island Brand Exotic Canned Food: Emperor
Scorpion
15.
18-inch Nuclear Radiation Giant Stag Beetle of
Bikini
16.
Queen Mermaid’s Purse
17.
Mummified Six-fingered Hand of Witch
18.
Mongolian Giant Death Worm (in a jar)
19.
T. Rex Bone
(Total 33 items
including 19 descriptions of items.)
At traditional Coney
Island style circus sideshow exhibitions (Dime Museums)
in their golden era, many exotic and freak artifacts,
specimens, and gaffs are often displayed with their
descriptions for marks (paying customers). Those
descriptions, often with dramatic, shocking, and
sensational stories attached to them, provided added
attraction and rendered a false authenticity to the
exhibitions; (Those showmen were masters of mass
psychology!) With this time-honored tradition and
culture of the circus sideshow in mind, Takeshi Yamada
produced descriptions for his exhibited items. Yamada’s
descriptions are based on his unique and distinctive
cultural background and comprehensive research of the
subject matters.
The academically
detailed artifact labels accompanying each piece add to
the exhibit’s tongue-in-cheek ethos, as the labels
provide the names, nicknames, Latin names, origins,
collection dates, sizes, and full descriptions for each
of the specimens and artifacts.
Here are two examples
of the descriptions.
Nuclear
Radiation Giant Stag Beetle of Bikini
Other common name: Radioactive Giant Beetle,
Devil’s Bug, Giant Killer Bug of Bikini
Latin name: Bikinicus polymegaloensis
Origin: Bikini Atoll, Republic of Marshal
Islands, U.S. Territories
Date: circa 1725 AD
Description: This is one of the largest and
most vicious carnivorous land arthropod species in
the world. The female grows up to 45 cm (18
inches). The Giant Stag Beetle of Bikini is
indigenous to Bikini Atoll. Males are extremely
territorial and have a complex hierarchy but they
are not social insects in the way that ants are.
Mating and egg-laying occur several times throughout
the year. A female produces 100 – 200 nymphs after a
gestation period of about three months. Maturity is
at about eight months. Eggs and young are protected
by the mother. They are nocturnal and live in leaf
litter on the forest floor by the beach, subsisting
on small animals. Captive breeding has not been
successful and scientists do not know exactly how
long an average specimen lives in the wild. During
the mating period, males become very aggressive.
They will face off and make threatening head bobbing
movements that produce a chirping sound. Each
combatant will try to grasp the other with its
mandibles to lift it off its feet and fling it to
the ground. Sometimes, one beetle may be cut in half
by its opponent’s mandibles. The victorious beetle
may march around the defeated opponent to celebrate
its success in battle. In the past, after observing
this aggressive behavior, locals consumed these
beetles to obtain the special divine powers related
to the beetle’s size and strength. Their heads were
kept as amulets displayed in the kitchen to ward off
devils and evil spirits. Unlike any other insect on
the planet, this carnivorous and extremely poisonous
(tetrad toxin) species of beetle is highly
radioactive as a result of nuclear weapons testing
conducted by the United States in the 1940s and
1950s on Bikini Atoll, located in the central
Pacific; one of the 29 atolls and five single
islands that form the Republic of the Marshall
Islands).
Note: Insects are the most diverse group of
organisms -- meaning that insect species outnumber
all other species on Earth. Approximately 80 percent
of the world's species are insects; this planet is
practically owned and ruled by insects. Insects do
not need humans but humans need insects. In fact,
one in every five creatures on this planet is a
beetle. Recent figures indicate that there are more
than 200 million insects for each human on the
planet.
Shrunken Human
Head
Other common names: Tsantsa (by Shuar
people), Amazonian Shrunken Human Trophy Head
Origin: Peru
Date: circa 1780 AD
Size: 37 x 13 x 12 cm including feather on
his head and strings attached to his face.
Description of the specimen: A more accurate
description of the shrunken human head is: an
artifact consisting of a mummified intact human face
and scalp. For centuries, the manufacture of
shrunken heads was the specialty of a number of
ethnic groups that practiced headhunting, most
notably the Jivaro Indians (now called the Shuar) of
present day Brazil, Ecuador, and Peru. Among the
Shuar, shrunken heads are called tsantsa. The
process of preparing a human head for the shrinking
process involved a sort of tanning. The skull was
removed from the head. Fat from the flesh of the
head was removed. The flesh was then boiled in water
in which a number of herbs containing tannins were
steeped, then dried with hot rocks and sand, while
being molded by the preparer to retain its human
features. The eyes and lips were sewn shut, and
various decorative beads were added to the head. The
shrunken head is roughly the size of a fist.
The practice of making shrunken heads originally had
religious significance (similar to the mummified
trophy heads produced in ancient Japan and China).
The heads were kept as trophies to show the
successful defeat of an enemy, and were believed to
harness the spirits of those enemies -- compelling
them to serve the shrinker. The manufacture of the
human shrunken head and its culture were terminated
when both the Peruvian and Ecuadorian governments
outlawed the practice.
The largest collection of authentic shrunken heads
in the United States is on display at Ye Old
Curiosity Shop in Seattle, WA, USA, featuring seven
heads. It also houses the smallest shrunken head in
the world which is about the size of a tennis ball.
Takeshi Yamada’s Sideshow Lecture and Reception
On October 27 (Fri),
2006, Yamada transformed the second floor main
auditorium of the Coney Island Library into the “Chamber
of Curiosities” with over two dozen of his taxidermy
artworks, artifacts, gaffs, and fine art paintings. Here
is a list of major items displayed: 6-foot Fiji mermaid,
4x6-foot Battle of Coney Island (painting on canvas),
3-foot prehistoric horseshoe crab, 6-foot giant
terrestrial flat worm, 7-foot giant killer worm, 3-foot
giant alligator clam, horseshoe crab, Japanese samurai
warrior’s ceremonial reincarnation mask, foot-long
carnivorous snail, 3-foot flying lizard (dragon),
cat-whiskered giant frog, 30-inch arrow head giant
lizard, 7-fingered mummified alien hand from Area 51,
Canadian hairy trout, round-back giant alligator turtle,
artifact of Dreamland Fire: Coney Island Mermaid World,
canned piranha, sea rabbit, artifact of Dreamland Fire:
Museum of World Wonders, American flag painted on the
horseshoe crab. (Refrigerator magnets, large buttons,
color cards of NYC’s one of the most dangerous monsters,
the Asian Longhorned Beetle, were distributed as
souvenirs to attendees.)
Yamada addressed an
audience of about 100 people (mostly local elementary
school students) about the history, culture, and art of
Coney Island for about an hour. By using his monstrous
taxidermy specimens and artworks, Yamada also talked
about art of circus sideshows, gaffs, modern taxidermy,
and their influence on American pop culture. (Yamada was
shocked to find that none of the children had heard of
“circus sideshow”. It is a terrible fact that today’s
children have already lost the great cultural heritage
of Coney Island, which was once bigger than Disney
World, Six Flags or Hollywood.)
(Photographs and video
still images shown below were taken by Liz Johnson.)
Video
stills of Yamada on stage.
Yamada
on stage with varieties of large taxidermy specimens on
three tables in the front.
Yamada’s monumental “Battle of Coney Island” painting
(4x6 feet) was used as a back drop.
Continue to Part 4
All rights reserved by
Takeshi Yamada, October 2006. Revised in April 2007.
Takeshi Yamada’s Museum
of World Wonders in Coney Island, 1405 Neptune Avenue,
Brooklyn, New York 11224, USA.
E-mail: yamada108@aol.com
Special thanks to Eriko
N. Bond, Lauren D. Travis, Liz Johnson and Deborah
Zingale.
Also special thanks to
Stephen Stickney, Program Director of Brooklyn Public
Library - Coney Island Branch.
