2011 – The Cabinet Of Curiosities

The works exhibited at the Cabinets of Curiosities exhibition, which was held from May 20 to May 22 2011, have been covered in a catalogue, which has been pressed in a limited amount and given to people interested in our works during the ArtScience Graduation Exhibition. The catalogue can also be downloaded in digital pdf form here.

Exploring Wonder in the Age of Science

Before the emergence of mass media and consumer technology, scientific discoveries reached the public in ways different than today. In the 17th and 18th century a variety of electrical contraptions provided entertainment for the aristocracy, which enjoyed admiring the seemingly magical sparks of static electricity erupting between pairs of electrodes. From laboratories and scientific expeditions, tools, drawings, charts and exotic specimen found their way into the cabinets of curiosities that the most prominent, wealthy or simply extravagant monarchs had built to display their collections of artistic masterpieces, anthropological findings and wonders from the natural sciences. By the end of the 19th century electrical entertainment had reached the masses and during great city fairs common people could find zoetropes, magic lanterns, kinetoscopes and other devices delivering the latest achievements in science and technology in spectacularized forms. It was these extravagant machines coming out of the workshops of crazy and ingenious inventors that led to the development of the most popular art forms of the 20th century such as cinema.
Today artists working at the intersection with science and technology find similar challenges to those faced by artists and inventors of the previous centuries. How does scientific innovation enter into public discourse? How can the laboratory be brought into the public domain?

In Cabinet Of Curiosities 17 emerging artists demonstrate how by combining creative intuition with methodological research, it is possible to open a dialogue between art and science. In a diverse and interdisciplinary exhibition these artists seek to communicate the experience of wonder and to observe the world in new, enhanced ways. Be guided on a bizarre tour through media, technology, art, performance and sound in today’s ‘Cabinet of Curiosities’.

‘Cabinet of Curiosities’
Dates: Friday May 20, Saturday May 21, Sunday May 22

Locations:

Hoop, Grote Markt 10-13
Vrije Academie/Gemak, Paviljoensgracht 20-24
Tag, Stille Veerkade 19
Anna, Boekhorststraat 139

All right in the centre of The Hague.