Dare I suggest we might see the humor in well-intended exhibits that went a bit wrong?
I offer as a personal example acting as a consultant to the Grand Rapids Public Museum, (Michigan, USA) helping to identify their specimens and giving them some material to fill in taxonomic gaps. The result is a beautiful little display, "F is for fossils" that packs an impressive amount of material into a small space. However, when I attended the exhibit's opening reception I had to stifle a gasp of horror to see that the exhibit designer, acting on his or own own aesthetic sensibilities, paved the floor of the cabinets with their abundant rugose coral collection, each horn coral carefully placed on its broad "base", tapered end sticking upward, exactly upside-down.
I doubt that the good people of Grand Rapids will notice the error (there is no explanatory signage for the corals) and those who do will likely take some satisfaction in recognizing the mistake.
Cheers,
Danita
Dr. Danita Brandt
Department of Geological Sciences
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824
brandt@msu.edu
http://www.msu.edu/~brandt/