Museum as Muse

Books, films, visual art, and other creative projects inspired by the museum, its mission, and its exhibits.

Residency Program

Over the years, the museum has inspired a number of projects as seen on this page. In 2021 a residency program was established to encourage creative projects based on the museum's themes, including an annual gallery show. For more information on the program, see here.

ZMOV VAINC

an imaginary museum of imaginary creatures and data-rich informational signage written in an imaginary language. Lyndsay Hogland's museum exhibit for the 2023 residency program explored the biome of an a hitherto unknown corner of the Zymoglyphic region. Access to this region was gained through an enigmatic image created by an AI genie prompted with "Zymoglyphic Museum as Muse." For details on this project, see here.

bestiary unknown

A found-footage style film that explores natural forms and evolution through stop-motion animation, and captures the whimsical and slightly unsettling tone of the Zymoglyphic region bestiary unknown was created by Alice Langlois during her 2021 museum residency using materials from the museum's archive. It had its theatrical premiere at the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival in October of 2022.

Healers from the Zymoglyphic

Healers is a a series of assemblage pieces created by Erinn Kathryn during her 2021 residency at the museum, reacting to the covid pandemic and its resulting isolation. The basic materials were found from rummaging in the museum's archive of natural materials The figures that emerged from my study, relating sticks and lichen to seed pods, sea kelp, feathers, and bones, are female archetypes to 'mother' myself back to knowing and being in the world.

Color Studies of the Zymoglyphic Region

Decaying stratifications of pigment and self-entwined poetic text reflect artist Coleman Stevenson's interpretation of the museum's exhibits. Also available as a book (Dark Exact, 2020) Monoprints and corresponding text depict the museum contents through abstract color studies and show the beautiful decay of all things over time, a main tenet of Zymoglyphic theory. Details here

Hotel Zymoglyphic

Illustrated surrealist poem cycle inspired by a visit to the Zymoglyphic region by the Orakuloid himself, Jason Squamata. (Zymoglyphic Museum Press, 2019) Contains coded incantations for the summoning of densely tentacled dream lovers and the sublimation of one's own skin into fictoplasmic dreaming. -- the author Available in the museum shop and online. See details here

The Positively Unknown: A Kid's Guide to the Zymoglyphic Museum

Have you went to the Zymoglyphic museum? I have. and I'm planing on going 100 more times! A seven-year-old's perspective on the museum, an interactive guide for kids of all ages. Alex G came to visit in November of 2018, took extensive photographs and was inspired to work on the guide on her break times from school. The resulting book was published in January of 2019. Alex went on to become a resident artist at the museum in 2021 at age 10. You can download the PDF here, but it's best to use it as a guide while visiting the museum. It is also a coloring book!

Spirits Under Glass

Spirits Under Glass is a unique artist's book that contains pinhole photographs of Zymoglyphic Museum artifacts and dioramas. The camera, photographs, and book were created by the museum's artist-in-residence, Judith Hoffman. She has captured these and other dreamlike images of the museum's exhibits using a variety of photographic techniques and has also been investigating what makes a found object "zymoglyphic." For details see here.

Zymoglyphic

Zymoglyphic is an enigmatic mini-semi-mockumentary by Owen Delaney on the "the dying study of Zymoglyphology" featuring visiting professor Margaret Ellis. Filmed on-site in March of 2018, released in November of that year.

Courtyard art

Tintamarresque and entry sign by the creative team of Camille Carpenter and Taylor Perris (posing on the left)

Visitor photographs

Photography at the museum is encouraged and visitors over the years have come up with some marvelous perspectives on the exhibits. See the gallery here.