Matthew Barney — The Cremaster Cycle — Sticker Set — 10 Stickers — Sealed Original Packaging — Guggenheim Museum 2003 Retrospective Edition
An exceptional and increasingly difficult to find factory-sealed sticker set, produced as official limited merchandise for Matthew Barney's landmark The Cremaster Cycle retrospective at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, February 21 – June 11, 2003. The set comprises ten stickers in total — two stickers for each of the five films in the cycle (Cremaster 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5), each rendered with iconography drawn from its corresponding film, and presented in its original sealed plastic wrapping exactly as issued by the museum in 2003.
The Cremaster Cycle (1994–2002) is one of the most ambitious works of moving-image art produced in the late twentieth century — a five-film sculptural and narrative cycle weaving together myth, biology, athletics, architecture, geology, and personal iconography. Produced over eight years and exhibited in fragmented form across the duration of its making, the cycle was first presented in its entirety at the 2003 Guggenheim retrospective — an exhibition that integrated the museum's iconic Frank Lloyd Wright spiral architecture directly into Barney's installation, in dialogue with the Chrysler Building staging of Cremaster 3.
The sticker set was produced as official Guggenheim Museum merchandise specifically for the retrospective. Each sticker draws on the symbolic vocabulary of a particular film in the cycle, ranging from Barney's signature Field Emblem motif to imagery referencing the Goodyear Blimp (Cremaster 1), the Mormon West (Cremaster 2), the Chrysler Building and Masonic ritual (Cremaster 3), the Isle of Man (Cremaster 4), and the Budapest opera (Cremaster 5). Sticker sizes vary from approximately 2 × 2 inches to 3 × 3 inches (5 × 5 cm to 7.6 × 7.6 cm), reflecting the differing imagery and scale demands of each film.
✦ Why "Sealed Never Opened" Matters ✦
Unlike most surviving examples of this set on the secondary market — which have been opened, separated, or partially applied — this example remains in its original sealed plastic wrapping, factory-sealed since issued by the Guggenheim Museum in 2003. This is a one-time-only state: once the seal is broken, the packaging cannot be restored, and the object loses its primary archival value.
★ SEALED: Original plastic wrapping unbroken
★ COMPLETE: All 10 stickers present, untouched
★ ARCHIVAL: Adhesive backing never exposed
★ AUTHENTIC 2003: Guggenheim retrospective production
★ IRREVERSIBLE: Cannot be re-sealed once opened
For sticker and ephemera collectors, sealed-state examples are dramatically more desirable than opened sets, as they preserve the original adhesive integrity of every sticker and the complete factory-issued packaging — exactly as the museum released the object in 2003.
Bibliographic Details:
Condition Notes (Honestly Disclosed):
Mint condition. The set remains in its original sealed plastic wrapping exactly as issued by the Guggenheim Museum in 2003. The plastic seal is unbroken; the interior stickers have never been removed, separated, or handled. No tears or punctures to the plastic wrap. Light surface markings on the plastic consistent with 22+ years of careful storage are minimal and do not affect visibility of the contents. The set has been kept in a smoke-free, climate-controlled environment since acquisition. Please refer to all detailed photographs for exact condition verification. Sold as-is, sealed — buyer assumes responsibility for any decision to break the seal.
Why This Matters:
The 2003 Guggenheim retrospective was a watershed moment in contemporary art — the first complete presentation of the Cremaster Cycle as a unified body of work, and one of the most significant single-artist exhibitions of the early 2000s. Limited official merchandise produced for the exhibition has become an increasingly sought-after collectible category, and sticker sets in particular are now disproportionately rare in unopened condition: most surviving examples have been broken open and the individual stickers separated, applied, or distributed. Complete sealed sets in original factory packaging are notably scarce on the secondary market, and represent the purest possible archival form in which this museum-edition object can be acquired.
For Collectors:
This sealed mint set is well suited to serious collectors of Matthew Barney's work, Cremaster Cycle archivists, Guggenheim Museum exhibition memorabilia specialists, contemporary art ephemera collectors, sticker and paper-goods archivists, and contemporary art institutions building chronological documentation of major early-2000s American contemporary art exhibitions. The set is equally suited to long-term preservation as a sealed archival object, or to careful opening and framing as a presentation of all ten stickers — though the latter course is irreversible.
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Shipping Methods:
The sealed sticker set is wrapped in acid-free archival material, sandwiched between rigid backing boards to maintain perfect flatness and prevent any flexing of the original plastic wrapping, then double-boxed in a rigid carton with corner protection. Particular care is taken to ensure the original factory seal is preserved exactly as received. Ships from Tokyo, Japan with full tracking and insurance.
[ For United States Buyers ]
Import duties and taxes are already adjusted and covered by the shipping costs. There will be no additional charges or customs fees for the buyer upon delivery.
[ For Other International Buyers ]
Import duties, taxes, and charges are not included in the item price or shipping cost. These charges are the buyer's responsibility.
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