Inside the White Cube: The Ideology of the Gallery Space

Inside the White Cube: The Ideology of the Gallery Space, by Brian O'Doherty

Indeed tradition itself, as the spacecraft withdraws, looks like another piece of bric-a-brac on the coffee-table- no more than a kinetic assemblage glued together with reproductions, powered by little mythic motors and sporting tiny models of museums. And in its midst, one notices an evenly lighted "cell" that appears crucial to making the thing work: the gallery space.

The history of modernism is intimately framed by that space. Or rather the history of modern art can be correlated with changes in that space and in the way we see it. We have now reached a point where we see not the art but the space first. (A cIiche of the age is to ejaculate over the space on entering a gallery.)An image comes to mind of a white, ideal space that, more than any single picture, may be the archetypal image of 20th-century art. And it clarifies itself through a process of historical inevitability usually attached to the art it contains.

Notes from my reading:
- An evenly lighted cell
- History of Modernism is intimately framed by that space
- History of Modern art- correlated with changes in that space
- Reached a point where we can see the space first before the art
- White, ideal space displaying the archetypal image of twentieth century art
- Ideal gallery subtracts from the artwork all cues that interfere with the fact that it is 'art'
- Work is isolated from anything that would detract from its own evaluation of itself
- Connotations of the white: sanctity of the church/ formality of a courtroom/ the mystique of the experimental laboratory- all joining chic design to create a unique chamber
- The object to be the medium through which these ideas are manifested and proffered for discussion
- Post-Modernism- context becomes content
- Peculiar reversal- object introduced into the gallery 'frames' the gallery
- Modernist- wooden polished floor, painted white walls and evenly light ceiling, as the main light source
- Art is free 'to take its own life'
- Unshadowed, white, clean, artificial
- Works- mounted/ hung/ scattered for study
- Limbolike status- presence of your own body seems superfluous, an intrusion

My group and I seem pretty adamant that we would like to display our work within this Modernist white cube... it begs the question as to why. Amanda's favourite exhibition was an exhibition she saw in Edinburgh showing only craft work. I absolutely loved the V&A's craft exhibition. Perhaps the reason why we are so determined to keep our work within this twentieth century tradition is because mixed media and craft never really had a chance to be displayed in this sanctimonious, fake atmosphere. By forcing our work to be accepted within the art world's most accredited environment may be we will help craft and mixed media gain the recognition it deserves...