Museums display artifacts in frames that - in an attempt to express impartiality and cleanliness - suspend them in decontextualized frames. These artifacts are composed of information such as geographic origin, age, use, etc that are ignored by the museum display in favor of a superficial framing. The superficiality of the museum display rips these artifacts from their contexts – framing them like a photo on the internet devoid of information.

Following this tradition, this cabinet suspends each artifact in an enclosed mass and frames them in isolation. The viewer lacks the information necessary to understand that the form is derived from the obscured information contained in each artifact. In plan, each artifact is arranged according to geographic origin while in elevation each is arranged according to temporal origin. The museum groups all these diverse objects together in one unified space and context that lends itself to the singular mass that constitutes the cabinet’s form.

This information, described below, is hidden in plain sight to any viewer but the artifacts increase in value and impact after being re-contextualized with their origins.

PLAN

TIMELINE

FRAMING PROCESS

FRAMED VIEWS

CONSTRUCTION DETAILS

EXPLODED AXO

PROCESS

ELEVATIONS

360

FABRICATION

FABRICATION