This summer, to celebrate the launch of the Royal Cornwall Museum’s newly restored Mineral Gallery, Bridgette Ashton’s Artificialia is on display in the museum’s Spotlight Gallery.
Phillip Rashleigh created one of the most distinguished early mineral collections, assembled from the 1760s until his death in 1811, which now forms the core of the RCM Mineral Gallery. Of particular note are his unsurpassed examples of Cornish minerals, which are meticulously detailed in his illustrated book, Specimens of British Minerals Selected from the Cabinet of Philip Rashleigh. Bridgette Ashton’s Artificialia: Fake Minerals & Fancy Plinths reflects on such mineral collecting from the viewpoint of the ‘spectacular’ rather than the scientific.
‘It is precisely at the slippery junction between reality and fantasy that Bridgette Ashton’s Artificialia create their own 21st-century niche. A mineral fantasia, these objects conflate the imaginary of curio cabinets with the line-up of scientific display to produce a playful community of extraterrestrial sculptures where rock and pedestal compete in eccentricity.’(Excerpt from essay written by cultural historian Celeste Olalquiaga for the exhibition publication.)
The Artificialia cabinet, along with accompanying prints, will be showing until 12th October 2024.
Royal Cornwall Museum, River Street, Truro, TR1 2SJ
12 July – 12 October 2024
Open Tues-Sat 10-4pm
Museum admission: Adult tickets (includes an annual pass): £7.50 Under 18: FREE Entry
