Cabinet of
Curiosities
Shenzhen & Hong Kong Bi-City Biennale of Architecture Urbanism, Hong Kong, 2009
Esther Lorenz, Shiqiao Li and Puay-Peng Ho, with master students from the School of Architecture, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
The installation Cabinet of Curiosities at the Hong Kong Biennale displayed an open collection of marvels found in the everyday life on the Kowloon Peninsula. It was designed as a room turned inside-out, and at the same time it functioned like a piece of furniture containing a series of smaller cabinets, each of which was specifically created for keeping one particular curiosity found in Kowloon. The curiosities were chosen by individuals, following a sensation of wonder, they were not institutionally curated. Just like its historical counterpart this cabinet did not make any distinction between nature, art, science, and humanities. Cabinet of Curiosities is a space for reflection. Its creation is grounded in curiosity and intuition. The juxtaposition of objects of different kinds and categories allows free association and the generation of new meaning.
Shenzhen & Hong Kong Bi-City Biennale of Architecture Urbanism, Hong Kong, 2009
Esther Lorenz, Shiqiao Li and Puay-Peng Ho, with master students from the School of Architecture, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
The installation Cabinet of Curiosities at the Hong Kong Biennale displayed an open collection of marvels found in the everyday life on the Kowloon Peninsula. It was designed as a room turned inside-out, and at the same time it functioned like a piece of furniture containing a series of smaller cabinets, each of which was specifically created for keeping one particular curiosity found in Kowloon. The curiosities were chosen by individuals, following a sensation of wonder, they were not institutionally curated. Just like its historical counterpart this cabinet did not make any distinction between nature, art, science, and humanities. Cabinet of Curiosities is a space for reflection. Its creation is grounded in curiosity and intuition. The juxtaposition of objects of different kinds and categories allows free association and the generation of new meaning.