The Oopsatoreum

Overview

That Shaun Tan has done a bit. He writes and illustrates dystopian kids books, taught himself what a graphic novel was in order to draw a groundbreaking, wordless comic and he won a bit of an Oscar. And then there's the museum stuff. Four years ago Tan collaborated with the Powerhouse to make the Odditoreum. Obscure and interesting objects from the bowels of the Museum collection were plucked out of obscurity and put on display. Tan wrote up the information cards, ever so slightly completely making up new uses for old broom machines or other odd implements. And he drew a book. With this year's Oopsatoreum, he's back for more.

The Oopsatoreum looks at some of the stranger remnants of the Powerhouse vaults through the lens of possibly-not-real inventor Henry Archibald Mintox. Mintox's also-ran inventions include mouse slippers, his fat suit and a handshake gauge. (These efforts also compiled into a biographical a book.) And, judging by previous efforts, Tan's accompanying text is sure to be very plausible.