The Project

“... the glass cabinet was a wedding gift, a solid item of Victorian mahogany. The superior half was removable and composed by three shelves behind glass doors that were locked by a key. The foundation consisted on drawers with brass handles that were also locked by a key. Isobel had transformed its wedding gift into “the family museum”.”

Shakespeare, Nicolas, Bruce Chatwin, page 54

For Bruce Chatwin, his aunt Isobel’s glass cabinet would profoundly come to influence his literary work; the shelves and the drawers that comprised it were a repository of collections, movements and stories. Like his biographer mentions, the glass cabinet was, for Chatwin, his starting point.

Likewise, the Glass Cabinet expects to be the starting point of a project built on the invitation of different artists for intervening at this specific spot. This wooden glass cabinet, which names the project, also consists on two glass doors, three shelves and two drawers with brass handles. The works produced for this place can be closed inside, behind the glass, or be expanded to the exterior space around the glass cabinet.

Free will is allowed to the artist, being the latter able to use all means towards the resolution of the challenge. The only condition is not to move the glass cabinet from the room where it is located, at the same time, its integrity should be always respected.

Direction: Benedita Pestana

Organization: Benedita Pestana e Raquel Melgue

Photography: Raquel Melgue

Translations: Ana Rocha da Silva