Micro Museum

Posted By baad lamb

Spin and swing the dangling camera-ball, walk up and down the red carpeted gauntlet of creepy-clowns, while they randomly light-up or taunt you with laughter. The TV on the floor displays your swirling video feed, an unrelated yet somehow oddly appropriate video installation adds to the mix. The trippy-quotient is multiplied by 10 as the random, owner-supplied soundtrack lands on Pink Floyd's melancholy lament "Wish You Were Here".






Brooklyn strolling on a beautifully bright mid-winter Saturday afternoon.


Leaving Fort Greene, I contemplate heading to the art, architecture and views of DUMBO, but my feet turned me left on Smith Street and Boerum Hill, and a few minutes later stop in front of the Micro Museum. I've passed by it many times over the years, and although I should have gone in, their second floor location and a (modest) entrance fee, combined with the expectation of a bunch of tiny things in display cases has prevented the excursion up the stairs.


But what's this? Ground floor presence, a storefront window display and a full-frontage sign! Now the meager $2 entrance fee alone can't prevent curiosity from winning this mini mind-meandering battle.

Co-owner (with husband William) and performance artist Kathleen Laziza warmly welcomes me at the door, explains many of the interactive pieces on display and encourages participation. Her infectious enthusiasm for exploration and creativity is immediately obvious, and spreads to include all things New York. For the first 20 minutes inside, I stood at the front entrance and we conversed rapid-fire, each new topic sprouting hydra-heads of additional topics, piling up and spilling out as fast as lips could move.


Eventually, I took a look around.

Lovely lava-light TV. Unlike broadcast television, who couldn't watch this for hours?

In the tiny VIP room at the back of the museum, a dense collection of Micro Museum greatest hits is assembled. Tour the Louvre with foot pedal switches and vocal encouragement, sound activated neon, and lots and lots of video kisses!

To visit the Micro Museum is to enter a private home filled with all the intriguing stuff that has been created and collected by two eclectic individuals with a shared passion and vision. No longer have the space in the living room or bed room to display everything? Forget storage; annex some space, open the door, and let everyone come in and play. The sad reality is not enough people are playing anymore. For the hour and a half I was there, no one else came in.


The Micro Museum is open for walk in visitors on Saturdays from noon to 7PM. Admission is $2. Now go PLAY!