Art

A conceptual inquiry into the origins and nature of museological display, or a clever way of making use of a tiny space? Either way, SE8’s sequence of ‘Cabinets’ shows – based around the idea of ‘cabinets of curiosities’, those early modern containers of scientific wonders and spectacular artefacts – has made the gallery one of the most interesting new venues around.

Having previously featured relatively established names, ‘Cabinets #5’ consists of three emerging artists – though actually it’s more like three separate shows, since each artist’s vitrine functions as a totally distinct mini-gallery. First up, facing the entrance, is Neil Hedger’s cabinet containing a priapic homunculus, crudely formed from a primal sludge of fluorescent wax and scraps of metal. With its stage-like plinth and background mirror, the environment seems designed to convey a sense of lurid exhibitionism – that is, of this monstrous creation seeming to revel in its very status as an exhibition.

The other two cabinets couldn’t be more different, accentuating an atmosphere of privacy and secrecy, undermining notions of spectacle and display. Thus, Dan Shaw-Town’s large graphite drawings are hidden away, carefully folded up like piles of laundry, preserved like ancient manuscripts too fragile for public scrutiny. And as for the final vitrine, by Pippa Gatty, the case is so darkened that it’s barely possible to discern the miniature paintings-on-glass – only when the lighthouse beam from a revolving torch flashes briefly past is a frieze depicting moon landings and Everest expeditions revealed. The effect is oddly melancholic and nostalgic, evoking a feeling of loss for a past age of scientific discovery and enlightenment; for the promise of a world that could be illuminated, known, and contained.