Workshop of Wonders
A History of Scientific Mistrust on Long Island
Workshop of Wonders: A History of Mistrust in Scientific Practices on Long Island invokes the historical form of the wunderkammer to thematize the suspicion with which the general public views scientific practice. Focusing on private modes of data collection and display, Workshop of Wonders recombines and restages artifacts from the history of publicly contested scientific practices on Long Island. Special attention is paid to Brookhaven National Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, and Plum Island Animal Disease Center in order to give expression to the intimate connection between distrust in scientific facts and the methodologies of science itself.