Untitled (Soap Bubble Set) 1936

Curator: Looking at "Untitled (Soap Bubble Set)," a mixed-media assemblage by Joseph Cornell from 1936, what catches your eye? Editor: Immediately? It feels like a cabinet of curiosities for a very dreamy scientist. This little world in a box, it has a stillness, almost sepulchral, but then a sense of child-like wonder kicks in with the lunar map and the bits of everyday objects, playing peek-a-boo. Curator: Indeed. Cornell constructed these shadow boxes from found objects, everyday items that held personal resonance for him. Consider the prominent "Carte Geographique de la Lune" in the background; the moon has represented cyclical change, the subconscious, and feminine archetypes across many cultures. Editor: Right, and it sits there as the backdrop, anchoring this almost ethereal collection of objects: a glass with something opaque floating in it, like an otherworldly elixir, some white cylinders, and that haunting, serene baby’s head… It feels incredibly symbolic. Curator: Exactly. That baby head can represent innocence, beginnings, or, viewed in the context of the moon map, the potential of human exploration and aspiration. The soap bubble set itself—something fleeting and beautiful—speaks of transience. Editor: Transience, yes! It’s the heart of it. Those mundane, ephemeral objects, immortalized in this contained world. Cornell is inviting us to pause, contemplate beauty and fragility in the overlooked. Like, what's up with the little pipe? Is it a symbol of hope? Rest? Childhood? Curator: Perhaps it refers to aspirations, or even vanished dreams, as soap bubbles easily vanish. The pipe adds a domestic touch, contrasting the vastness of lunar exploration, uniting microcosm and macrocosm. And each element adds to a cumulative personal symbolism... Editor: Personal and universally felt, I’d say. Because ultimately, he’s prompting questions we all grapple with: mortality, memory, what remains. He captures nostalgia for something maybe we never even had. Beautiful. Curator: A delicate balance, wouldn’t you agree, inviting reflection on how we make sense of ourselves through collecting symbols and objects. Editor: Totally, it gives permission to assign your own weird meanings. And maybe the box suggests that memory or identity is its own kind of... confinement. Makes you think!