How the White Cube Came to Dominate the Art World

And when does this cleansing process, leading us to the idea of the gallery as ‘white cube’, begin?
*Charlotte Klonk
*The disciplining began at an early stage with the design of reverential entrance halls and exhibition rooms. They were sumptuously decorated, but weren’t intended to distract from viewing the art.
Niklas Maak • The white cube and beyond Museum display

What is important in my opinion is that the room is honest, so there is no patronising.
*Niklas Maak
*When is a room honest?
*Charlotte Klonk
*Well, as soon as what is being aimed for becomes obvious to the viewer. What remains too subliminal, for example, are the colour nuances in the new display of the collection in the Nationalgalerie. If visitors a
Niklas Maak • The white cube and beyond Museum display
Cognitive psychology is one of those fields of discussion which was, at least historically, of great importance for the exhibition of art. The first director of the National Gallery in London, Charles Eastlake, preferred hanging paintings against a background of red material, something he introduced in the middle of the nineteenth century (previous
... See moreNiklas Maak • The white cube and beyond Museum display
On the one hand, of course, the conditions of perception are more consciously acknowledged in environments created by artists, but on the other hand the framework of the exhibition space itself is pushed further into the background. For functional reasons, the artistic interventions make the neutral museum-container even more necessary than before.
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