Note: This post is part of my “Museums Project“, a collection of 200+ high-concept ideas for museums.
Of all the types of roadside attractions, possibly the most common are those that claim to be the “world’s biggest” something-or-other. Just take a look at this list of them on wikipedia.
The world’s biggest ball of twine, fork, toilet paper roll, frying pan, spoon, purple spoon, basket, etc, etc.
There’s even a museum which claims to be the World’s Largest Collection of Smallest Versions of Largest Things.
So what about a museum where the visitors get to help make things larger? People love to leave a mark that says “I was here”. Why not help them do that?
How It Might Work
First, people would know ahead of time what’s in the museum and what to bring. The exhibits change over time maybe, so you’ll have to check the website to see what the current exhibits are.
Perhaps there is a certain size we are aiming for. Maybe the final artwork is sold or auctioned to someone or some business that needs a roadside attraction of their own.
We could attempt to surpass some of the things that are claimed to be the largest currently, but it seems a bit obnoxious to steal the crown from the people who have inspired us. Plus I don’t like that idea because while imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, it’s also the frecuent manifestation of lazy ideation.
Some World’s Largest Ideas
Here’s some ideas that, to my knowledge, have not been done yet. This list is more an illustration of the breadth of possibilities than it is a list of specific proposals.
- How about world’s largest pile of dollar bills? To be donated when complete.
- World’s largest collection of gum. Perhaps chewed. Perhaps not chewed. Perhaps a pile for each.
- The world’s largest collection of leftover IKEA parts
- The world’s largest collection of thank you notes
- The world’s largest mosaic made of recycled (something).
- The world’s largest collection of junk mail from cable and internet providers. (I think I may already have this).
- The world’s largest collection of videos of people losing Ms. Pac Man in under 10 seconds.
- The world’s largest collection of a certain book, record, or other piece of specific physical media.
- The world’s longest recording of people saying a certain phrase, or screaming, or making a sound. Each new recording would be appended to the others. It would be streamed throughout the museum. When the recording you made is about to be played, you get a text message with a link so that you can watch it played via livestream in the museum.
Instead of the result being physically huge by an absolute measure (eg, 40 feet across!) they could be huge by a relative measure: we collect very very small things. Things that are so detailed that someone has to spend time just to make a square millimeter of it.
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