Mixed-Media Assemblage

Overview

Containers (Distributed) examines how containment can exist across many independent vessels rather than within a single object. The work is constructed upon an architectural foundation formed by a cornerstone from the original Rigley family home, preserved by Joan Rigley at The Rigley Field, a Century brick discovered on the property, and a butcher block fabricated by Bob Rigley from the original kitchen. Supported by stacks of books, this structure becomes the platform upon which glass bottles, domestic vessels, perfume bottles, drinking glasses, and collected containers from different countries and periods of the artist’s life are assembled alongside broken Christmas ornaments and fragments of glass preserved within a stainless steel bento container. A vertical column of handwritten Data Frames records the provenance of the individual components while the butcher block itself carries an addressed message composed in Rimowa typography beginning “For Seth:” followed by an acronym whose meaning remains intentionally undisclosed. Like the vessels surrounding it, the message preserves knowledge without exhausting it. No single container holds the work’s meaning. Instead, meaning is distributed across architecture, objects, language, and memory, allowing each component to retain its own identity while participating in a larger structure. Containers (Distributed) does not represent accumulation. It performs distributed containment.

Metadata

Artist
Seth / Ezra Dager

Year
2025–2026

Medium
Mixed-Media Assemblage

Status
Complete

Archive
Human Archive

Location
The Rigley Field

Components
Cornerstone from the original Rigley family home; Century brick discovered on The Rigley Field property; butcher block fabricated by Bob Rigley from the original kitchen; supporting stacks of books; Virgil Abloh-designed glass; original milk bottle from Eldridge Street; French handblown glassware; Heinz bottle from France; Yale Forest bottle; maple syrup bottle; coffee brewer; assorted domestic vessels; stainless steel bento container containing broken Christmas ornaments and glass fragments; Hidden NY object; Rimowa typographic message; handwritten Data Frames.