![Schubladenmuseum [Museum of Drawers] (1970-1977), Herbert Distel
From Things Magazine:
Herbert Distel’s The Museum of Drawers, 1970–1977 is perhaps one of the most prescient works of art of the pre-digital era. From MoMA: ‘Herbert Distel adopted the role of the museum curator when he invited artists from around the world to contribute miniature works for display in the tiny “galleries” of his Museum of Drawers. The drawers in this found cabinet are filled with five hundred works by a wide range of artists, some well known, like Picasso, others obscure, creating a comprehensive survey of artistic currents in the 1960s and 1970s.’ This so-called ‘smallest museum‘ is akin to a traditional wunderkammer‘, spliced with the very digital concept of the thumbnail (a term which obviously pre-dates the arrival of computers. Distel is pre-empting all sorts of esoteric modern projects, from Bill Gates’ virtual gallery wall (presumably obsolete within weeks of its installation) to tumblr’s archive view or the image browser on a smart phone. Everything condensed and portable, squashed into as small a space as possible, still legible, yet also lost in transition.](http://30.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lvg3fmbKw71qzekkuo1_400.jpg)
Schubladenmuseum [Museum of Drawers] (1970-1977), Herbert Distel
From Things Magazine:
Herbert Distel’s The Museum of Drawers, 1970–1977 is perhaps one of the most prescient works of art of the pre-digital era. From MoMA: ‘Herbert Distel adopted the role of the museum curator when he invited artists from around the world to contribute miniature works for display in the tiny “galleries” of his Museum of Drawers. The drawers in this found cabinet are filled with five hundred works by a wide range of artists, some well known, like Picasso, others obscure, creating a comprehensive survey of artistic currents in the 1960s and 1970s.’ This so-called ‘smallest museum‘ is akin to a traditional wunderkammer‘, spliced with the very digital concept of the thumbnail (a term which obviously pre-dates the arrival of computers. Distel is pre-empting all sorts of esoteric modern projects, from Bill Gates’ virtual gallery wall (presumably obsolete within weeks of its installation) to tumblr’s archive view or the image browser on a smart phone. Everything condensed and portable, squashed into as small a space as possible, still legible, yet also lost in transition.
