NARRATOR:  

All these little worlds, they’re inviting you in. The one with the Pink Palace… 

SFX: Audio animation/soundscape for pink place – as if we are listening through time and have entered his imagination. 

NARRATOR:  

The blue one with the owl… 

SFX: Audio animation/soundscape. Mysterious nighttime sounds, crickets, wind, owl  

NARRATOR:  

People say Joseph Cornell was very childlike. He loved ice cream. And candy. He obsessively created these collages and tiny worlds, nonstop, for most of his life. He also loved the ballet. So we thought we’d bring in a professional.  

FLATMO:  

Hi, my name is Erik Flatmo. I design scenery for operas, plays, and dance projects. 

SFX: Erik keeps talking under narration – about proscenium arches and framing devices 

NARRATOR:  

According to Eric, Cornell uses a device that he sees in theater all the time. It’s kind of a frame within a frame that draws you deeper into the world inside. It’s called a portal. You can see a good example in the box with the Pink Palace.  

FLATMO:  

The blue and the sparkles makes it very magical.  

SFX: Whimsical interlude from the Pink Palace soundscape 

NARRATOR:  

Cornell’s workshop was crammed with hundreds of odd little things he collected. See if you can find some of them. Cordial glasses, marbles, watch faces, old photographs… 

FLATMO:  

Every object in this world has you know coded social and cultural and historical value and you can’t disassociate that.  

NARRATOR (continuing the list):  

…pages from books, birds, ballerinas, mirrors, rusty keys… 

FLATMO:  

You sort of want to have this arsenal of fun little objects to you that will unexpectedly be in service of that one thing that you’re trying to represent.  

NARRATOR (continuing the list): 

…wooden balls, tree bark, lightbulbs, postage stamps, paper fans, newspaper clippings… 

SFX: Musical interlude – fades