PROJECT WITH A PURPOSE

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Make your own shrine!

Cabinet of Curiosity is committed to encouraging gestures of hope, community, and redemption.

Our projects often involve replete projects of detail and craft, community and collaboration.

We take inspiration from the broad universe of spirituality, not religion. Over the summer of 2020, in response to the demand for isolation forced by COVID19, we developed a project called Messages of Hope. A community project where over 100 artists created shrines for public viewing, now in its seventh month of FREE public presentation.

When Cabinet founder, Frank Maugeri, was in Mexico City 25 years ago studying ritual and art, he first saw decorative boxes wrapped to poles. Cigar boxes filled with detritus, like mannequin hands, flowers, whiskey bottles, stuffed animals, and more. They were rough, odd, unsophisticated and bound to random poles. He inquired about them, and a local said, “Yes, those are made by artists so the businessmen remember to look up, dream, remember, and hope.”

It was during the same time Frank became introduced to the magnificent world of self-taught artists and the homemade grottos across the nation. He was lucky to create work at The Wisconsin Concrete Park, Dr. Evermor’s Park, The Grotto of the Redemption and The Dickeyville Grotto (thanks to Molly Ross).

These adventures left a significant impression on Franks aesthetic and purpose.

Frank went on to create chair and drawer shrines, large environmental installations and hundreds of performances, processions and parades for Redmoon theatre, where over 100,000 community members joined in creation of his interactive sites and design opportunities.

Continuously inspired by ritual, participation, and community, Frank shaped Messages of Hope with Sydney Lynn Thomas.

An ephemeral gallery of community, hope, and beauty.

Now with the undeniable energy and imagination of the School of Celebrations 2020 Fall apprentices comes Cabinets of Celebration, created by MeKensey Kendall, Amy Pearl Lang and Alfie Smith, along with engineer and designer Shawn Ketchum Johnson.

Much of Cabinet’s mission and principles are born from the study and teaching of myth. Joseph Campbell used the term "aesthetic arrest" to describe the state we enter when we encounter what we perceive to be profound beauty. This is a phrase he borrowed from James Joyce, who said that when confronted with beauty, “the mind is arrested and raised above desire and loathing.” This continues to be a goal with our current projects.

“NOW IS A TIME OF SURVIVAL AND SUSTENANCE, BUT IT IS EQUALLY A TIME OF SERVICE AND SACRIFICE. AS ARTISTS, WE CAN AND MUST BE CREATIVE AND INNOVATIVE. THEREFORE, IN THIS MOMENT OF UNDERSTANDABLE DISTANCE AND TRIAL, CABINET HAS COMMITTED TO NEW INITIATIVES AND NEW APPROACHES.”
— Frank Maugeri

A shrine is a holy or sacred site dedicated to specific deity, ancestor, hero, martyr, saint, or similar figure of respect, wherein they are venerated or worshipped.

They often contain idols, relics, or other such objects associated with the figure being venerated.

Shrines are found in many of the world's religions, including Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Chinese folk religion, Shinto, indigenous Philippine folk religions, and Asatru as well as in secular and non-religious settings such as a war memorial.

Shrines can be found in various settings, such as churches, temples, cemeteries, museums, or in the home. Although, portable shrines are also found in some cultures.

They are often self-made and ephemeral locations for reflection, remembrance and momentary celebration.