Nestled in the back corner of the Resnick Pavilion at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, a pathway into the past awaits. Open since Sept. 17, “The World Made Wondrous: The Dutch Collector’s Cabinet and the Politics of Possession” is an evocation of the Wunderkammers (literally “cabinets of wonders” in German) of European collectors from the 16th and 17th centuries. The exhibition faithfully recreates its own collection, while also leveling a critical examination of the ethics and agendas behind such an assemblage.

Though these collections emerged all across the European continent, “World Made Wondrous” gives special attention to those from the Netherlands. The country enjoyed a rapid ascent to global power in this period, as well as an unprecedented proximity to faraway lands and their resources through the ever-expanding networks of trade and commerce. This process facilitated acquisition of the diverse assortment of items displayed in the collectors’ cabinets.

Today, many see the Wunderkammer as a forerunner to the Western museum conceived today. The colonial and exploitative tendencies seen in the collector’s cabinets still linger. Addressing the persistence of these inclinations, “World Made Wondrous” adopts a meditative aspect on the very nature of museums.

The exhibition’s first section, focusing on the fictive creation of “The Collector,” invents an owner of the assembly of objects. The likenesses of Dutch historical figures, captured by Rembrandt and other portraitists, give a sense of the collectors’ peers for the viewer. The penetrating gazes of these individuals extend over other pieces that build an image of the culture in this period, ranging from representations of mythology and religion to maps and globes that demonstrate a rapidly evolving conception of the world.

Yet while “World Made Wondrous” may initially seem to play the collector’s game, the show quickly unravels the incomplete, misleading and damaging colonial perspectives — often by allowing objects to speak for themselves. In this process, the exhibition presents a multivocal narrative, providing a platform to groups whose outlooks may have been previously suppressed.

“My methodology was really trying to focus on these other voices that have been lost, other histories that have been lost,” said Diva Zumaya, assistant curator in the department of European painting and sculpture at LACMA. “[I was] really trying to ask the question: How else can we look at these objects, besides from the European collector’s perspective?”

Proceeding beyond the first section that establishes the collector, the exhibition proceeds to explore the actual substance of the collection in three organizing categories: “Water,” “Earth” and “Fire.” As noted in the introductory message for the exhibition, the voice of the collector is “purposefully sidelined” in these galleries, intending to “foreground voices that are often missing from these histories.”

These sections, perhaps above all else, prioritize context. Works that feel customary to the art museum experience of today, such as the maritime paintings of Willem van de Velde the Younger, are placed in concert with objects that are decidedly more unexpected, like shells, lobsters, crabs and even a pufferfish. Indeed, this strategy of eclectic presentation is faithful to the nature of those seen in 16th and 17th century collections.

“From the period view of the seventeenth century, it’s quite anachronistic, actually, to have paintings lined up on a white wall,” Zumaya said. “17th-century Dutch paintings would have been next to shells and crocodiles, and scientific instruments or prints. It would have been a more multimedia, more interactive experience.”

Beyond achieving realism in the customs of the Wunderkammer, this cross-disciplinary approach to art also forces viewers to engage in more critical discourses about the objects’ creation and messaging. How do van de Velde’s portrayal of seaships relate to the exploited maritime resources displayed nearby? What might a full-sized American Alligator taxidermy tell us about European artistic renderings of the New World? “World Made Wondrous” encourages these sorts of interrogations.

An extensive audio guide further develops this show’s critical approach to artwork of the period. Compiling the voices of historians, scientists and activists, these recordings promote reflection on the legacies of the collector’s cabinets, widely ranging from environmental to economic to cultural and political points of view. Additionally, the exhibition features the voices of four contemporary artists — Jennifer Ling Datchuk, Todd Gray, Sithabile Mlotshwa and Uýra Sodoma — who express their own critical perspectives in conversations developed within their own pieces. In the most literal sense, the audio guide amplifies voices previously unheard.

“It’s fascinating to think about the other eyes through which we can see these objects,” Zumaya said. “And the audio guide is the principal way that I’ve designed these other voices to come through.”

As LACMA nears the completion of the David Geffen Galleries, the museum is in a unique position to reevaluate its attitudes toward the presentation of art. “World Made Wondrous” advances a timely meta-commentary on the art world itself, with all of its troubling legacies. By probing the problematic practices of the past, this exhibition helps envision a more equitable and sustainable future for LACMA and other institutions around the world.

“World Made Wondrous” is on view until March 3, 2024. Students can receive an admission discount with the presentation of a valid student ID.