Chance to open the Cabinet of Curiosity at Shrewsbury Museum & Art Gallery
Visitors to Shrewsbury Museum & Art Gallery will be invited to look for hidden treasures inside a ‘Cabinet of Curiosity’ from 8 November 2014 to 28 February 2015.
Invented by five local artists, the Cabinet is the result of a year-long collaboration with the museum’s curators and the Friends of Shrewsbury Museum & Art Gallery to make contemporary art in response to the Museum’s collections.
The Shrewsbury exhibition is the first step of the Cabinet’s tour of museums, festivals, arts, educational and heritage sites in the West Midlands and Wales.
The Cabinet is one of a series of works from artists in the group that will be displayed in the museum as part of the ‘Curiosity, re:collect Interventions’ exhibition.
Liz Turner, re:collect sculptor who built the Cabinet, said:
“There will be tiny spaces and secret places for visitors to discover the contemporary artworks and artefacts hidden in drawers or playing on miniature screens inside.
“re:collect are thrilled to be exhibiting in the new museum and we welcome comments from visitors on the work”.
“These artworks are inspired by the Museum’s collections and the history of Shropshire including Wroxeter Roman City, Iron Age Hill Forts, artefacts from the Bronze Age, and geology, as well as the ebb and flow of ideas, objects and people over centuries. As the box goes on tour the contents will change to suit each location and the Cabinet will accumulate new treasures”.
Tina Woodward, Shropshire Council’s deputy Cabinet member responsible for museums, said:
“We are delighted to have this imaginative work in Shrewsbury Museum & Art Gallery, and in the cultural calendar of Shropshire”.
Admission to the ‘Curiosity, re:collect Interventions’ exhibition is included in the entry price of the Museum. It is supported by Arts Council England, Shropshire Council and the Friends of Shrewsbury Museum and Art Gallery.
The artists will also be holding talks and workshops at the museum over the next few months. For more information visit www.shrewsburymuseum.org.uk.
For more information about the Cabinet tour and re:collect, email liz@sculpturelogic.co.uk
Further information
1. Members of re:collect and details of their work on display as part of the exhibition ‘Curiosity, re:collect Interventions’:
Jacqui Dodds, The Space Between: blind embossings, artist book and prints referencing Wroxeter’s archaeology. www.jacquidodds.blogspot.co.uk
Julie Edwards, Evolution Revolution: installation connecting the artist’s social history with the museum’s industrial ceramic and local geological collections. www.juliedwards.co.uk
Jill Impey, “beinghumanproject” 02: project linking online film clips to museum objects. www.jillimpey.co.uk
Ann Kelcey, Out of the Shadows: ceramic installation responding to artefacts from the museum’s pre-history collection. www.kelceyceramics.co.uk
Elizabeth Turner, From Wyle Cop to the Moon: interactive microscope sculptures bringing together landscapes of Shropshire hill forts and the lunar surface. www.sculpturelogic.co.uk
2. The artist group re:collect formed while taking part in a Professional Development Programme 2012-13 with the new Shrewsbury Museum and Art Gallery, (The Music Hall).
