The Third Planet
As a child, the Milwaukee Public Museum seemed a massive, cavernous maze of wonders. It ignited my interest in natural history and served as my first introduction to fossils. The historical and cultural artifacts were also fascinating, especially since I didn’t travel much in childhood. The life-sized dioramas allowed for imaginative journeys to far away places and times where things looked familiar, yet different.
Mysteries of the third floor: Why are these (and only these) signs glowing green?
In adulthood, I’ve continued to visit the museum frequently and have introduced it to my own children. So when it was announced that the museum would have to be moved to a new location, I felt torn between excitement to see something new and sadness for the loss of my (and my children’s) childhood museum. I hope the new museum will have many of the dioramas, specimen cases, and immersive environments I’ve always loved, while updating or removing things that are sadly outdated or just in rough shape. My biggest fear is that the new museum will veer too far into the touch-screen/projection screen territory of “interactive” exhibits. Kids interact with touch screens and apps enough in their daily lives; let them enjoy the fabulous realness-fakeness of dioramas! Plus folks of every age need a place to confront their irrational fear of mannequins through exposure therapy and the current museum is just such a place. Given that the new location will have less than half the exhibit space of the current building, I fear many of the mannequins may not make the trip. And there is little hope for additional dinosaur skeletons given the amount room those take up.
A small sampling of the many hardworking mannequins that may face displacement
The phrase “You can never go home again” is already true of MPM in a way; it’s undergone several rounds of renovation since I first visited in the early 1980’s. I remember when the rainforest exhibit was new and when the main entrance was located where the butterflies currently flutter. The dim, winding halls of this imposing structure and the immersive drama of it’s exhibits and dioramas have populated my unconscious for the better part of my life, manifesting endless dream mazes and soundscapes. If the current building must be lost in order to create a new one, it will always live, strangely distorted, in the back corners of my sleeping mind.
A mural found in MPM’s glacier exhibit with a poetic response by Ven Loetz
In response to this anticipated loss, I have decided to embark on a journey to fully explore and document the museum in its current state. Along with my friend and collaborator Ven Loetz, we will make regular visits to the museum and post our findings. For each entry, we’ll choose an object, exhibit, or theme to immerse ourselves in and respond to in creative ways. We may invite a few guests to join us along the way and perhaps take a few field trips to other museums for comparison. These entries will act as love letters to the museum, seen through my own nostalgic eyes as well as the eyes of Ven, an explorer who grew up elsewhere. What can we learn about our world? What can we learn about ourselves? What can we hold on to as we head into an unknown future? Join us on our expedition into the world of the Milwaukee Pubic Museum.