Refreshing: the museum's toothpaste collection.Credit: Barry Divola
At the end of a downtown alley in New York City, Barry Divola discovers a tiny, offbeat museum.
The first thing you have to do is find it. You may think this is easy. After all, it's a museum called Museum and, if you have the address, then how hard can it be? Well, Museum is no ordinary museum.
Cortlandt Alley is a narrow thoroughfare in Tribeca, lined with fire escapes and closed roller doors. In the section between Franklin Street and White Street, keep your eyes peeled for a black metal door with three rectangular perspex peepholes cut into it. You've arrived.
If you're there at the weekend, Museum is open for business, accommodating about three people at a time in its 5.5-square-metre space. If you're there at any other time, you can view Museum through those perspex slots - dial 1 888 763 8839, then press the catalogue number alongside each item into your phone for a pre-recorded commentary.
But first, some history. The trio behind the place is Alex Kalman and brothers Josh and Ben Safdie, school buddies who later formed Red Bucket Films. In their films, documentaries and shorts, the three had always been fascinated with the profound nature of the mundane in everyday life.
"We made a film called Buttons, made up of all the things we saw on the street," says Kalman, who was there to talk to visitors the day I dropped in. "For instance, we filmed a man getting his shoelace caught in a grate. It captured something about humanity, but we presented it in a cinematic way. Some people thought we made the whole thing up, but we didn't. These scenes were just everyday things that really happened. We decided to translate what we were doing to the language of objects."
Of course, New York is not exactly a city short of museums filled with objects, but it's safe to say you've never seen anything like Museum, which was opened in May 2012 by a Rudolph Giuliani impersonator, with catering provided by a hotdog and pretzel truck parked nearby.
For a start, there's the space itself. The founders thought for a long time about possible locations and what the museum might look like. Their answer came unexpectedly when the superintendent of their office building asked if they needed storage space, because the freight elevator was being decommissioned. They knew Museum had found a home.
They converted the tiny area, installing shelves and lighting, and they made some rules.
"No art, no sentimentality and the objects had to have some kind of purpose and they had to tell us something about the world and society," says Kalman.
They solicited pieces with these criteria in mind and the current exhibition ranges from the intriguing to the bizarre.
A selection of toothpastes from around the world might seem like a frivolous choice until you notice brands such as Darkie, a Chinese product with a black man in a top hat as its logo. When the firm was called racist, it changed the brand to Darlie and the mascot became white.
A row of Disney-themed children's backpacks initially seems innocuous, but when you discover they have bulletproof linings - a response to the school shootings in recent years - the fairies and slogans such as "Up in the clouds" have a chilling ring.
An impressive array of fake vomit, or "Gastronomic Projectile Offerings" as the catalogue calls them, proves what incredible variety there is in this field of novelties, while a collection of objects made by prisoners spans the ingenious (a toothbrush made from paper and cling film; a pair of tiny dice made from dried bread) to the confronting (intricately carved soaps that portray Nazi symbols).
Probably the most controversial piece in the collection is a man's shoe. This is the shoe thrown at former United States president George W. Bush by an Iraqi journalist in 2008. Or at least, the museum's founders say it is. They claim their acquisition of the footwear came with the condition that they couldn't disclose any information about its provenance.
"You can explore the big issues through the little ordinary things," says Kalman. "Whether it's how prisoners make everyday items they don't have or the ways in which people make fake money, it's all about what happens when a part of society lacks something and has to be resourceful and creative.
"We also wanted to make this accessible and fun and we wanted it to look special. Even though it's small, we wanted it to feel like you were visiting the Louvre or seeing the Queen's jewels."
This tiny illuminated former elevator certainly achieves that, celebrating the ordinary and the weird, displaying it beautifully and hiding it all in a place that makes it feel special when you find it.
While you're there, you may also like to visit the tiniest museum gift shop in New York (a couple of shelves with catalogues and merchandise) and the tiniest museum cafe (a mini-espresso machine and mini muffins), both tucked into one corner.
At Museum, good things come in small packages.
Barry Divola was a guest of Brand USA (discoveramerica.com) and Mr & Mrs Smith.
TRIP NOTES
GETTING THERE
Virgin Australia flies daily to Los Angeles from Sydney with connections to New York via their alliance partner Delta Airlines. Phone 136 789.
STAYING THERE
Mr & Mrs Smith is a boutique hotel-booking specialist, offering best available rates and free extras on 22 New York hotels. Phone 1300 896 627.
TOURING THERE
Museum, Cortlandt Alley between Franklin and White Streets.
Open Saturday and Sunday noon-6pm; 24-hour viewing access via windows - dial 1 888 763 8839 for pre-recording.
MORE INFORMATION
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