An exhibition I participated in and help curate last year, called Basic Space fitted into the ‘dirty space’ aesthetic. The space we chose for our exhibition was a dilapidated basement in a house.
We wanted a space that was alternative and ‘basic’, something more accessible than a White Cube space, but we also had to be realistic in what we could get. Maybe the basement was the only place we could get – we weren’t going to be showing in the City Art Gallery – but we also didn’t try to show in a White Cube space; right from the beginning we said we wanted a space, without the obvious connotations of the gallery space. This came out in discussions as wanting a ‘dilapidated space’, a dirty space; ‘Basic Space’.
We wanted this partly because a lot of our work fits into the concept of ‘basic’, and partly due to us all liking the aesthetic of the basement. Much of our work agrees with the idea of ‘basic’; most of it being sculptural or video based, and focussed on the medium as opposed to being conceptual. That being said, some of the group (myself included) make conceptual work, and we still felt our work fits into the look and feel of the basement because our work is about function and dysfunction, and we felt it would better fit into a non-sterile atmosphere, away from a White Cube space.
For our target audience (primarily students, but not just Fine Art students) it was a good space: accessible, not intimidating, and I’m sure it was different from the environment in which they generally saw art. Our target audience was partly made up of non-artistically trained people, those that didn’t necessarily know of the dialectic between White Cube space and alternative spaces, and how the alternative space is now more accepted. They were, of course, subject to the subconscious ideologies of society, and were, to a certain extent, more aware that alternative spaces are no longer avant-garde. There is also the point that students are more comfortable than most in literally dirty spaces – it’s hard to imagine men in suits coming down to the basement and getting all dusty! (Although we did have a few lovely suited men who didn’t seem to mind!)
There were still issues of ideology involved with the choice of space, primarily the fact that it was literally dirty, and so added some different connotations to our work – most of these intentional! (I felt my work in particular worked better in a literally dirty space than in the clinical White Cube space) Despite this, we felt the choice of exhibition space was based on the works themselves, instead of any desire to combat the White Cube directly. It was more important to us that the space made sense with the works inside, than for it to make a comment on the White Cube. Although, purely by not being a white space, it referenced it, albeit in a much more subtle way than if the White Cube had been mentioned explicitly.
You can see some more pictures of the event at my website here –
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The White Cube Effect 