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# Museum Gets Shafted: An Elevator Pitch for Curiosities
- URL: https://hyperallergic.com/museum-gets-shafted-an-elevator-pitch-for-curiosities/
- Published: 2013-08-01T15:10:18.000Z
- Updated: 2025-11-24T16:34:54.000Z
- Description: It's been over a year since we visited the opening of Museum, the diminutive institution housed in a Cortlandt Alley elevator shaft in Lower Manhattan, so I recently stopped by to see their summer exhibition. The show is more like an eclectic installation of 15 small exhibitions, from tip jars to Ch
- Author: Allison Meier
- Tags: Art, Photo Essays, Tom Sachs, #wp, #wp-post, #image-position-hidden, #Import 2025-11-24 06:59 (2012, 2013, part 2)

![Museum seen from Cortlandt Alely](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2013/08/elevatormuseum01.jpg)

Museum seen from Cortlandt Alley (all photographs by the author for Hyperallergic)

It’s been over a year since[ we visited ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-museum-corlandt-alley/)the opening of [Museum](http://mmuseumm.com/?ref=hyperallergic.com), the diminutive institution housed in a Cortlandt Alley elevator shaft in Lower Manhattan, so I recently stopped by to see their summer exhibition. The show is more like an eclectic installation of 15 small exhibitions, from tip jars to Chinese [Joss paper](https://hyperallergic.com/in-case-it-rains-in-heaven/) to Tom Sach’s Mars excavation tools to pornographer Al Goldstein’s personal possessions to objects crafted by prisoners. You can visit it with a self-guided dial up tour or read handy informational cards, and the experience is surprisingly in-depth for the tiny space. Here’s some images from what’s currently on view.

![View to Cortlandt Alley, with piercing example "flesh" and fake vomit](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2013/08/elevatormuseum02.jpg)

View to Cortlandt Alley, with piercing example “flesh” and fake vomit

![Shoe thrown at George W. Bush](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2013/08/elevatormuseum03.jpg)

Shoe thrown at George W. Bush

![View to Cortlandt Alley](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2013/08/elevatormuseum04.jpg)

View to Cortlandt Alley

!["Crafts" by prisoners ](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2013/08/elevatormuseum05.jpg)

“Crafts” by prisoners

![Objects carved from soap by prisoners](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2013/08/elevatormuseum06.jpg)

Objects carved from soap by prisoners

![Chip flavors from around the world, showing the variations in "standard" flavors](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2013/08/elevatormuseum07.jpg)

Chip flavors from around the world, showing the variations in “standard” flavors

![Tom Sachs' Mars excavation tools and rocks from his Park Avenue Armory exhibition](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2013/08/elevatormuseum08.jpg)

Tom Sachs’ Mars excavation tools and rocks from his Park Avenue Armory exhibition

![Letter from Mel Brooks to pornographer Al Goldstein, whose personal possessions are on display](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2013/08/elevatormuseum09.jpg)

Letter from Mel Brooks to pornographer Al Goldstein, whose personal possessions are on display

![Chinese paper funeral objects, for burning for the afterlife](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2013/08/elevatormuseum10.jpg)

Chinese paper funeral objects, for burning for the afterlife

![Eclectic tip jars](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2013/08/elevatormuseum11.jpg)

Eclectic tip jars

![Detail of the display of toothpastes from around the world](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2013/08/elevatormuseum12.jpg)

Detail of the display of toothpastes from around the world

![Interior of Museum](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2013/08/elevatormuseum13.jpg)

Interior of Museum

*Museum is located in Cortlandt Alley (Between Franklin Street and White Street, Tribeca, Manhattan). Visit* [*their website*](http://mmuseumm.com/?ref=hyperallergic.com) *for open hours and events.*