apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

It's like a scene from a recent CSI...

I don't mean to be rude, but this is a rather inappropriate time to post something like this.

anonyme, are you refering to the VA Tech tragedy?
If so, I have to disagree, but to each his own.
Isn't it wrong for you to be looking at a home decor site in the wake of those senseless deaths?

Wende...paging Wende....I'm obsessed with her doll houses. A pirate making guac? What could be better?

This isn't about wrong vs. right, guido. I'm just talking common sense. Most people have multiple browsers open (many with news updates), and there's a good chance that this creates a rather unsettling and tasteless juxtaposition.

My primary problem is that yes, this is a home decor site, and it is nice to be able to distract oneself during a tragedy like this.

But this post has very little to do with home decor; it's just a silly post on a book that aestheticizes and trvialies death, which I find badly mistimed and quite naive on the poster's part.

Hey, I Love Upstate!

This is one of those books I keep meaning to buy, so I'm glad someone tipped off AT about it. There's also a current criminology professor who does miniature crime scenes...

CSI: Dollhouse Scale

Anonyme, I respectfully disagree. There are horrible tragedies everyday. The VA Tech tragedy is truly horrific and I do not mean to minimize that in any way, but would you have the same reaction if this was posted on the same day that 33 civilians were killed in a bombing in Baghdad, or 33 villagers killed in a flood in China? Americans often act as if our deaths deserve more attention than anyone elses. It may be that I am callous because there's a lot of (American) death in my workplace, but I don't think this book/post trivializes death, just takes an unconventional view on it. Which I happen to find fascinating and I am going to look for this book.

I dont find living ones life untimely.. The sad reality is that death by firearms is a very likely occurence throughout the US. Its unfortunate but it could just as easily happen every day( think of other places much less"civilized" were this does) frankly i find the niavete is thinking that the desire to fill ones world with items of interest ( even in the macbre) untimely and inappropriate. Does the scale of the decor diminish the interest and value?

Perhaps if all the previous poster's annoymous emotional experiences were to occur in a vacuum then life would be less untimely.

Sorry, to be a bit vociferous. But its bad enough one selfish person disrupts the world at large with their discontent but to perpetuate it is how would you say unseemly.

As a matter of information the recent events will most likely raise the VA mortality rate by firearms to the national average.

http://webapp.cdc.gov/sasweb/ncipc/mortrate.html

Forgot to note that the doll house maquettes are exquisite. a bit macabre but exquisite.

Page thomas, I'm not making facistic tirade against your precious right to own and discuss throw pillows.

I'm just saying this post could have waited a few days.

anonyme,

this woman was a historical scholar who built these models as teaching aides and for research. her work doesn't "trvialies death" but examines it for study. i hardly think that "silly."

If I understand this correctly, these doll houses were designed as teaching tools. The juxtaposition may or may not be unfortunate, but forensic dioramas do not trivialize a tragedy. On the other hand, I find the comment that they do does trivialize the event.

The existence of the book (as opposed to the doll houses themselves) does raise some interesting questions about art, similar to ones asked when dealing with ethnic and tribal art, but that's not the question raised here. Architectural models, toy theatres, and those wonderful miniature rooms in the Chicago's Art Institute as well as the models here are all related by the way, all raising interesting questions about the relationship between miniature models and society.

Jonathan B, now you've got me thinking about that relationship. I recently saw Picasso's maquette for the Chicago Picasso which gave me an entirely different "take" on the sculpture and led me to wonder about the importance of scale in how one understands a piece of art, or, indeed, any object. While one may actually enter the Dailey Plaza Picasso, nevertheless the maquette seemed more intimate because of it's size.

My apologies for any offense, and - believe me - the thought did go through my mind that this might in some way be inappropriate.

But, after thinking about WHY I thought that, I felt it wasn't. It is near in topic to our current events, but so much about creating solutions rather than playing up the evil, I felt it was okay to post today.

We need to beat our guns into plowshares and I am with you Anonyme in terms of mourning. Being an ex school teacher, the senselessness of what happened in VA is beyond frightening.

And to reiterate - the models were teaching tools, on display - the book is a photographer's re-interpretation of the tools. So the book is more about the photographer's work than just a document of the models.

For the record, I went to school with the photographer.

Hey:

We have this book in one of the libraries on campus. I'm going to walk over and check it out. Thanks for the tip!

Tony G.

I just checked it out. It is an amazingly bizarre book. I love it.
I know what I'm going to buy my best friend for Christmas now.

Tony G.

This is a fantastic book. The attention to detail is amazing!
Most of the items in the rooms had to be handmade by Mrs. Lee. I used to show it to friends when they'd come over but now I hide it.

the first shot reminds me of sylvia plath. it's a very interesting idea... thanks for posting!

still doesnt explain the why and how of commercialism on any scale just the features of emotional misdirection that become or involve the investigation of such.
beyond that, the spacial features necitate the understanding of intent... life is not a cripple fight...if it was, loss would be the only mean.

the title of the book is 'the studies of unexplained shell'.

People died yesterday - people will die today - and people will still die tomorrow

I fail to understand why a posting about a book showing images of crime scene teachings is inappropriate to post today, or indeed any day - if you feel strongly about any particular deaths that happened recently I suggest you stop playing around on the internet and take your own time to mourn

What a beautiful project. JonathanB raised some interesting questions, and I think another interesting thing about this project is the way Frances Glessner Lee was able to integrate her love of dollhouses with her work. Imagine the guts it took to be in such a male-dominated profession and bring dollhouses into the realm of forensics.
This reminds me of a couple of other things--first, Corin Hewitt's SpaceLab sculpture, a cast-earth rendering of the SpaceLab with the interior of his grandmother's house reproduced in miniature inside it; and second, the Bangkok Forensic Museum.

the Glessner family lived on an estate in New Hampshire called The Rocks...it is now a conservation and education center, not to mention a Martha Stewart Approved Christmas Tree Farm! I go every Thanksgiving for a Horse Drawn wagon ride (with a tourguide who tells you this history of the estate) a small craft fair, and cutting your own Christmas Tree. Check it out!

The book is available in the upstairs Photography section at the Strand in NYC for $20, if you don't mind a slightly wrinkled dust jacket.
(I didn't. It's totally intriguing!)
http://www.strandbooks.com/app/www/p/profile/?isbn=1580931456

This is a 1953 article about Glessner and other crime scene modelers:

http://blog.modernmechanix.com/2006/02/27/origins-of-csi/