Art Installation

'Cabinets of Curiosity'

All major cities have their artistic cultural centres, or vicinities where art galleries gather. These civic places where art is shown to the public has a more robust heritage that many are unaware of. The first shows of art were in markets- where the curator of the time would show his gems of art, puppets, theatre, bearded ladies on various types of wheeled platforms, stages or cabinets. It was only when the cabinet was introduced as a piece of furniture inside, that the gallery as we know it was born. Before then a cabinet was known as a collection of artefacts collected from the Grand Travels that were left outside in the garden- usually antiquities like pots, sculpture etc shipped over from The Orient, Greece or Rome. So bringing the gallery back to the people would bring back the showmanship, the theatre, the public event to art shows; that are in danger of becoming simply a closed shop of the white cube variety.