Winter 2010–2011

Artist Projects / Ten

Anniversary gifts

Jane South, Ester Partegàs, Janine Antoni, Rachel Harrison, Francis Cape, Moyra Davey, Sabrina Gschwandtner, Alexandre Singh, Virgil Marti, and Vik Muniz

The convention of celebrating anniversaries with gifts of precious metals goes back to Central Europe in the Middle Ages, when tradition held that husbands would present their wives with first silver and then gold garlands to mark twenty-five and fifty years together, respectively. But it wasn’t until the late nineteenth century that the vogue for recognizing each of the first ten anniversaries with a gift made from a particular material emerged in earnest, a developing custom that not surprisingly piqued the interest of business organizations like the American National Retail Jeweler Association. In 1937, the group published the list we used to commission the portfolio of projects below, created by some of our favorite artists to help celebrate Cabinet’s, ahem, own ten-year anniversary.


First Anniversary: Paper
Jane South, Photographed, Printed, Copied, Faxed, Scanned, Published, 2010.
Second Anniversary: Cotton
Ester Partegàs, Obey Cosmic Wonder, 2010.
Third Anniversary: Leather
Janine Antoni, Perfect Bound (Editor-in-Chief), 2010.
Fourth Anniversary: Fruit
Rachel Harrison, Balducci’s, 2010.
Fifth Anniversary: Wood
Francis Cape, Untitled, 2010.
Sixth Anniversary: Iron
Moyra Davey, Tempus Fugit, 2010.
Seventh Anniversary: Wool
Sabrina Gschwandtner, Cabinet Cardigan, 2010.
(knitted by Lindsay Degen)
Eighth Anniversary: Bronze
Alexandre Singh, The Rotting Flesh, 2010.
Ninth Anniversary: Pottery
Virgil Marti, Untitled, 2010.
Tenth Anniversary: Tin
Vik Muniz, Cabinet of Curiosities, 2010.

Jane South is an artist based in Brooklyn, New York.

Ester Partegàs is a Brooklyn-based artist. She holds an MFA in sculpture from Universitat de Barcelona and another in multimedia art from Universität der Künste, Berlin. Recent solo shows include “Less World” at Christopher Grimes Gallery, Santa Monica, and “More World” at Foxy Production, New York, both in 2010.

Janine Antoni is a Bahamian artist based in New York, who had her third solo exhibition at Luhring Augustine Gallery, New York, in 2009. Her work was included in “Move: Choreographing You” at the Hayward Gallery, London (2010), and will be seen in 2011 in “Heroines” at the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid, and “Dance/Draw” at the ICA, Boston.

Rachel Harrison is a New York–based artist. Her most recent monograph, Museum With Walls, was published on the occasion of the exhibitions “Consider the Lobster” at the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York; “HAYCATION” at Portikus, Frankfurt; and “Conquest of the Useless” at Whitechapel Gallery, London.

Francis Cape is an artist working in Narrowsburg, New York. Projects in 2010 included The Other End of the Line at the High Line, New York, and “Behind the Levees,” a summary of five years of post-Katrina work, at Colgate University’s Clifford Gallery. Forthcoming in 2011 are exhibits based on Cape’s 2009 series “Home Front” and a book of his New Orleans work.

Moyra Davey is a New York–based artist. In 2010, she had a solo exhibition at Kunsthalle Basel. Other recent group exhibitions include Photography on Photography: Reflections on the Medium Since 1960 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (2008) and Mixed Use Manhattan at the Reina Sofia, Madrid (2010).

Sabrina Gschwandtner is a New York–based artist. Her work was recently included in “Hand+Made” at the Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, and will be seen in the forthcoming exhibition “Shot Through” at Hordaland Art Centre, Norway.

Alexandre Singh is a Franco-British artist working in New York. His work is currently on view in “Free” at the New Museum, New York, and in “Manifesta 8” in Spain. He will be curating the spring 2011 issue of Palais, the magazine of the Palais de Tokyo, Paris.

Virgil Marti is a Philadelphia-based artist represented by the Elizabeth Dee Gallery, New York. “Set Pieces: Curated by Virgil Marti from the Collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art” is on view through 13 February 2011 at the ICA, Philadelphia.

Vik Muniz is an internationally exhibited artist based in Brooklyn and Rio de Janeiro. He is also involved in social projects that use artmaking as a force for change; his work with Brazilian garbage pickers was the focus of the award-winning 2010 documentary Waste Land. In collaboration with other artists, he is currently curating “The Art Week,” an urban art intervention scheduled to take place in May 2011 throughout Rio de Janeiro.

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