Light box - acrylic curiosities cabinet - Brief Article

Architectural Review, The, August, 2001 by Carly Butler

The idea of the cabinet of curiosities comes from the Renaissance, or even the Ancients. Here is a contemporary version, made with modern materials and technology.

Nothing is too wonderful to be true. Michael Faraday

In 1594 Francis Bacon determined that the 'complete learned gentleman' would want to possess: '... a goodly, huge cabinet, wherein whatsoever the hand of man by exquisite art or engine has made rare in stuff, form or motion; whatsoever singularity, chance and the shuffle of things hath produced; whatsoever Nature has wrought in things that want life and may be kept; shall be sorted and included'.

And thus began our preoccupation with collecting, with keeping records of events, mementos and memories - saving the often inexplicable: a restaurant napkin, a stone. Over time, these objects become precious, irreplaceable because of their uniqueness, their connection to random or fleeting moments. Often there is a mixture of fantasy and reality- is this really from ... does it belong to? ... and stories become developed, enlarged.

In Mr Wilson's Cabinet of Wonder, Lawrence Weschler describes the fantastical collection of a man as mysterious and remarkable as the objects he accumulates. The pure wonder of Wilson's collection lies, Weschler writes, in the shimmer between wondering at and wondering whether, concluding: ... it's that very shimmer, the capacity for such delicious confusion, Wilson sometimes seems to suggest, that may constitute the most blessedly wonderful thing about being human'.

Like Mr Wilson, filmmaker John Greyson also seeks wonder, and appreciates the importance of objects, memory, fantasy and documentation. Desiring his own 'Cabinet of Wonder' to house his burgeoning collection, Greyson commissioned the Canadian architect, Johnson Chou, to create cabinet of curiosities for the twenty-first century - 'except that the cabinet is to be a wonder in itself- as mysterious and intriguing as the objects it would display; an object that would "shimmer"'.

Pushing the designer to consider the sensibilities of past centuries, Greyson's commission led Chou to create an object of beauty and whimsy while still adhering to his own rigorous aesthetic, as well as incorporating the prosaic demands of a workstation. Exploring both paradox and the act of viewing, the delight of the cabinet lies in its diverse references - from Eileen Gray with her pivoting, movable elements, to Marcel Duchamp's Portable Museums'. Meeting the historical precedent of the curiosity cabinet, fulfilling a basic human desire for collection and remembrance, Chou combines clever, complex design with a dose of Duchampian wit and irony.

Closed, the cabinet appears as a minimalist cube - a solid and restrained form that belies its complex and interactive quality. On closer inspection, however, this seemingly austere, utilitarian object appears to glow from within. As it opens and the front panel swings outward, the cabinet slowly discloses its contents, revealing its inner magic. Seventeen acrylic cubes, their fronts obscured and semi-opaque, rotate through 360 degrees; vitrines lift upwards, drawers slide; a three-level glass cylinder extends; the front frosted glass display case pulls outwards; and finally, from a hidden recess on top, a single cube waits to be discovered. Opened, the cabinet's luminous forms create an ethereal presence, their perfect proportions architectural as we envisage a modernist cityscape, glowing as if from the future.

Encouraging active participation by simultaneously revealing and concealing, the cabinet plays on discovery and the unexpected, tantalizing our imagination by making viewing a ritual and conscious act. One questions the nature and truth of not only the objects collected, but the very purpose and function of the cabinet itself. By engaging the viewer this way. Chou's cabinet remains true to the original delight of collection. Reminding us of the pure enjoyment of simply 'looking', Chou brings the 'delicious confusion' of wonder together with equally delicious design.