Cabinet 38

The seclusion of islands has long made them ideal screens for our fantasies and terrors, choice locations for military and scientific assays, and perfect settings for escapes, incarcerations and battles for survival. In consideration of these dynamics, Cabinet 38 features Julia Wolcott discussing islands in science fiction; Jeffrey Kastner on being marooned; Janet Connelly on West Berlin as an island; Simon Rezak on island penal colonies; the story of the "Chinese Princess" Der Ling, a onetime student of Isadora Duncan who set up court on a Mexican island in the 1920s; and an artist project by Jeremy Drummond. Off-the-island treasures include Anthony Grafton on the Last Supper's culinary legacy; Aaron Schuster on cinematic sneezes; Jonathan Hardy on the Spanish urban grid; Maggie Nelson on the color red; George Pendle on the first computer dating system; Allen S. Weiss on Japanese garden design; and an artist project by Alejandro Cesarco.