The Shelf

The Shelf presents work from the Tang Teaching Museum collection that spans place, time, material, style, and subject. Displayed together on a single shelf, the objects selected confuse distinctions between “high” and “low” art, between “decorative” and “fine,” or between work made for function or beauty. The exhibition represents a snapshot of the museum’s permanent collection—a grouping that creates new meaning about the works both individually and collectively. It asks, what defines a permanent collection of things, and what defines their connections?