A Foreigner’s Cabinet of Chinese Curiosities

Over quite a long time I’ve had a few brief chats with Shanghai-resident artist Christina Shmigel about her planned Cabinet of Curiosities. It’s taken her five years – though I have no idea if that is really quick or really long in terms of the manufacture of cabinets of curiosities? Anyway, now we get a chance to see it, and I for one, am rather excited. Details below the pic:

A Foreigner’s Cabinet of Chinese Curiosities

Sunday, October 31st, 2010
3:00–6:00
(Or by appointment 135 6435 0132)

696 Wei Hai Lu
Jing An District (near Maoming Lu)
Bldg. 11 Room 409

Compartmentalized into the 67 drawers of a massive Traditional Chinese Medicine Cabinet, as into the pockets of memory, resides a collection of those most ordinary things – pink plastic string, blue plumbing hose, a White Cat washing soap bottle, the booths of sellers of auspicious phone numbers, dormer windows, bamboo scaffolding – that give Shanghai the particular character it has at this time in history. Several small books expanding on the subjects and themes of the objects are also housed in the drawers.

Five years in the making, the Cabinet of Curiosities is an attempt to preserve and catalogue (in an entirely idiosyncratic way) the experience of coming to know a culture through its material possessions. Following the traditions of the European “wunderkammers” and Ming & Qing Dynasty curio boxes, the cabinet invites the viewer to ponder the world with awe and wonder.

The cabinet begins is US tour with an exhibition at the Bruno David Gallery in St. Louis, MO, opening Jan 21, 2011.
www.brunodavidgallery.com