Iceland's Eccentric Museums Offer Lessons for Curators Worldwide
A review of A. Kendra Greene's book 'The Museum of Whales You Will Never See' (Penguin, 2020) explores Iceland's niche museums, including the Icelandic Phallological Museum (penis museum), Museum of Icelandic Sorcery and Witchcraft, Herring Era Museum, and Petra's Stone Collection. Greene examines how private obsessions become public institutions, arguing that museums require 'collective determinations' beyond mere collecting. The book raises questions about museum purpose, referencing ICOM's 2019 redefinition focusing on wellbeing and social justice. Greene notes these family-run Icelandic museums lack corporate spin or curatorial agenda, offering lessons for larger institutions.
Key facts
- Book 'The Museum of Whales You Will Never See' by A. Kendra Greene published by Penguin in 2020
- Covers Iceland's unusual museums including the penis museum, Museum of Icelandic Sorcery and Witchcraft, Herring Era Museum, Skógar Folk Museum, and Petra's Stone Collection
- Greene questions when a collection becomes a museum, emphasizing 'collective determinations'
- ICOM sought to redefine museums in 2019 as concerned with wellbeing and social justice
- Icelandic museums are mostly family-run with little corporate spin or curatorial agenda
- The penis museum features goat specimens described as 'hairy' and 'like little opossums'
- Petra's Stone Collection is a house museum dedicated to one woman's half-century rock collecting habit
- A museum of sea monster tales reports one in three people in Arnarfjörður can tell such stories
Entities
Artists
- A. Kendra Greene
- Sigurgeir
Institutions
- Penguin Books
- Museum of Icelandic Sorcery and Witchcraft
- Herring Era Museum
- Skógar Folk Museum
- Icelandic Phallological Museum
- Petra's Stone Collection
- International Council of Museums
Locations
- Iceland
- Arnarfjörður