Group Exhibition X Museum, The Pool by X Museum, Shanghai
X Lab Series:
The Cabinet of Wonder
- The Creative Practices of 27 Artists
2025.8.23-2025.12.7
Curator：You Yang
The Pool by X Museum
S-L2-44, Stone Zone L2, Taikoo Li Qiantan, No.500 Dongyu Rd, Pudong, Shanghai
From August 23 to December 7, 2025, X Museum partners with Shanghai Taikoo Li Qiantan to present the group exhibition "The Cabinet of Wonder" at The Pool by X Museum.This exhibition encompasses the practices of “making” of 27 artists exploring diverse identities through varied artistic forms. It also follows the curative thread from the previous exhibition, “Zhilan: A Glance in Urban Garden,” concerning the evolution of urban spaces with potential for humanity and commerce, collecting and exhibiting objects bearing cultural meanings.
Entitled “The Cabinet of Wonder,” this exhibition draws inspiration from three key concepts. The first is the origin from the German word “Wunderkammer,” which means the private collections space flourished in Renaissance Europe. With the development of trade, the fusion of Eastern and Western cultures began to appear in man-made objects from the late 14th century onwards. The Noble of the time carefully displayed both natural specimens and man-made artifacts from their own private collections worldwide. These cabinets of wonder reflected a complex and diverse knowledge system, following the specific principles of display. Considered an early precursor to the modern art museum, the Wunderkammer was a spatial means of presenting knowledge through visualization and aggregation practices. This practice evolved over time, leading to the diverse forms of art museums today, reflecting historical shifts in knowledge systems and cognitive models, also plays a corresponding social role. With the establishment of art history museums and natural history museums in the first half of the 19th century, modern art museums, as sacred spaces created by humans, continued and developed a sense of "wonder." This enthusiasm for classifying, collecting, and displaying objects also led to the birth of another major space in modern society: the shopping mall.
The second reference is from Cabinet of Wonder, a series of publications translated spontaneously by the Chinese art industry to meet knowledge needs around 2015. This series, instrumental in shaping the artistic ecosystem, exemplified the spirit of self-organization and self-production, nurturing the growth of multiple generations of art professionals. This capacity for self-organization is considered crucial for diverse groups to empower themselves and actively participate in social development, a practice of increasing significance in today’s world.
The third inspiration is from the inherent geographical attributes of The Pool by X Museum. Located within the Taikoo Li Qiantan lifestyle hub, The Pool has consistently used its exhibitions to respond to and examine the potential for artistic interventions within urban contexts, embracing a holistic approach to spatial practice. “The Cabinet of Wonder” builds upon the exploration of spatial culture and museum history initiated in “Zhilan: A Glance in Urban Garden,” while “The Pool by the Pool” highlights the ways in which art exhibitions can appropriate and offer alternative portrayals of the cultural characteristics of urban spaces.
Echoing the creative spirit of inquiry embodied by the “Wunderkammer,” this exhibition strives to bring a sense of “wonder” to viewers within this space. Like the artifacts housed within historical cabinets of wonder, the artworks on display at The Pool defy conventional modes of presentation, effectively transforming the space into its own “Wunderkammer” within the Taikoo Li Qiantan. This emphasizes the inherent cultural, craftsmanship, or recreational aspects imbued within each piece, revealing the essence of their existence. The exhibition features commissioned and selected works from 27 artists - functional objects poised to enter diverse homes and social spaces, participating in new spatial constellations and sparking lasting emotions and memories.
“The classification of objects is shaped by a series of intricately intertwined factors.” Rather than relying on theoretical exposition or narrative framework, this exhibition endeavors to provide viewers with a direct and “interesting” aesthetic experience through perception. This notion of the “interesting,” a key aesthetic shift in post-modern art, retains a robust vitality within contemporary culture and commerce. Echoing the meticulous construction of historical Wunderkammern—where elements like wallpaper and clocks were carefully orchestrated to contribute to the overall ambiance and interact with the collected objects - this exhibition seeks to create a similarly immersive environment. Drawing from the lineage of artistic inspiration traced from the ancient Greek Muses and reshaped during the Renaissance, the definition of “art” has been continuously deferred and reconstructed. From this point, this exhibition builds upon the concept of “making,” exploring its spirit with creators of diverse backgrounds. The forms and scopes of the works presented deliberately transcend the cognitive limits imposed by 17th-century notions of “fine art,” and resist emphasizing les beaux-arts as a form of cultural capital for emerging social strata in the late 19th century. Objects are simply objects: conduits for perception, and, when assembled, revealing the shape of contemporary society.
The objects within the exhibition space create a perceptual landscape for both viewers and art professionals. This conscious perceptual experience—mediated by objects and situations in the (spatially integrated) real world—points towards personal feelings. Modern culture itself is built upon a foundation of displayed objects and events, enabling both self-expression and economic progress. While artists before modernity focused on giving shape to the spiritual and cultural essence of the world, contemporary artists and curators are less concerned with emphasizing the “newness” of objects and more invested in innovating display mechanisms and channels. Object forms possess their own inherent life and the spirit of the age; rather than artistic concepts generating forms, “the idea illuminates the form.” Ultimately, these display mechanisms strive to connect diverse social groups, foster richer social connections, and promote a more dynamic flow of cultural resources.
We kindly hope visitors would find this space of “collected objects” to be both engaging and rewarding. As one of X Lab Series, this exhibition is free to the public, and all artworks in the exhibition are available for purchase, with proceeds supporting X Museum’s cultural and academic programs. The exhibition is curated by You Yang with assistance from Yujie He, Jasmin Xinyue Jin, Wang Shiqi, Huang Li, and Wang Jiawen. Exhibition design is by Jiang Boyuan of Studio NOR. We gratefully acknowledge the support of Taikoo Li Qiantan, the X Museum Patrons, X Museum Annual Corporate Sponsor - Tikkurila, Exclusive Social Media Partner RedBook, and opening support: GUERLAIN and ELECTRO X.
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