British Library

David Normal’s Crossroads of Curiosity is an epic suite of lightbox murals that extends the notion of a “cabinet of curiosity” outward from the rectilinear arrangement of objects in glass cases to encompass the world in a series of dramatic tableaux featuring provocative juxtapositions of vastly different times, places, and peoples.

Crossroads of Curiosity was installed at Burning Man 2014 and had a 5 month exhibition at the British Library in 2015. The collage-based paintings were composed exclusively from the digitized antiquarian illustration collection of the British Library. Crossroads was essential to supporting the Burning Man Festival's 2014 theme, "Carvansary", in close collaboration with Larry Harvey, and was displayed prominently at the "Man Pavilion" where the Burning Man Effigy stood.

In 2015 the Crossroads of Curiosity was presented as an installation at the British Library in London. The murals were installed in a close array that formed an immersive space within the "Poet's Circle", an open air rotunda in the Piazza of the British Library. The murals were on display for five months and provided an interesting social space for visitors to the British Library, and glowing through the night they were seen by countless passengers going by in London's double-decker buses. A gala opening was held on June 20th that featured talks by David Normal and Burning Man founder, Larry Harvey (who came to London for the opening) as well as a ceremonial procession and live music. During the course of the exhibition, David Normal often gave talks on the subject matter of the murals, what he called, "Lunch Time Travel Tours", since they were often presented to people taking their lunch break in the Piazza.

David Normal’s Crossroads of Curiosity is an epic suite of lightbox murals that extends the notion of a “cabinet of curiosity” outward from the rectilinear arrangement of objects in glass cases to encompass the world in a series of dramatic tableaux featuring provocative juxtapositions of vastly different times, places, and peoples.

Crossroads of Curiosity was installed at Burning Man 2014 and had a 5 month exhibition at the British Library in 2015. The collage-based paintings were composed exclusively from the digitized antiquarian illustration collection of the British Library. Crossroads was essential to supporting the Burning Man Festival's 2014 theme, "Carvansary", in close collaboration with Larry Harvey, and was displayed prominently at the "Man Pavilion" where the Burning Man Effigy stood.