photo by Lina Vergara Huilcamán
In the inner city of Modena, a rather peaceful and respectable province, the ex-Nautilus of Torino opened in May – during the night of the first earthquake – changing its name but not its contents.
Four adjoining rooms with plenty of those “strange” objects for fetishists, collectors and people affected by small morbid disorders, like me.
A wonderland containing glass eyes, German drying hoods that look like huge metal spiders, coin-operated machines supplying doses of perfume, anatomical waxes, stuffed animals, bones, pictures, ancient plaques with the strangest words, gas masks and optometrist glasses, even nasal straighteners… a place where anyone who comes back always find new items, but also a must-see for those who want to surprise their children, running the risk to initiate them into “strange” passions. Passions that can’t but grow worse, but that will certainly lead them to peculiar worlds.
At the entrance, a life-size E.T. guards the door of this Wunderkammer or cabinet of curiosities, a place where you can’t buy relief goods, unless you belong to the category of people that need something quite different from ordinary flower paintings in order to feel good.
The owner, Fausto, is not only a flea market explorer, a connoisseur of rarities. He is, above all, a sculptor and devotes himself mainly to the creation of items for the cinema. He’s also a bibliophile – what a coincidence! – with whom one can discuss about interesting books that can be found at the Feltrinelli bookshop in the same street.
A shop, but also a small museum or inanimate zoo. A distraction from Saturday afternoon’s ordinary window-shopping, where you can leaf through the books that Fausto has chosen for you. A place for alternative shopping where you can simply enjoy amazing views and unleash your imagination in a small corner of curiosity.
The curiosity that is often dormant in our ordinary and daily lives.
“Strange” how a space of this kind can be fitted out by simply collecting daily items belonging to one’s past. How a wooden prosthesis can become a design object or the tools of an ophthalmologist can be turned into fantastic personal accessories.
But are we sure that this is really “strange”?
None of the items at Obsoleto store looked “strange” in their context, as well as the ancient chiffonnier of our granny doesn’t look strange in the bedroom.
Obsoleto store
via Cesare Battisti, 60/A
41121 Modena, Italia
obsoletostore@yahoo.it
solo per appuntamento 335 6485094