The Irish Times

Space: Architecture for Art

After years of depending on on all those great 19th century institutions handed to us on a plate by the British, Ireland has seen a profusion of arts centres, galleries and museums in recent years that "re-envision", in one way or another, the idea of space for art. This is a highly controversial area. Are contemporary art galleries to be "white boxes", just as many contemporary theatres tend to be "black boxes"? Or are they to follow the model of, say, the Guggenheim in Bilbao and make such a stunning architectural statement that the art inside is overwhelmed? "Does the convention of the gallery de-fang the wild beast within?", asks artist and critic Brian O'Doherty in a newly-published book, Space: Architecture for Art. Have artworks become mere emblems of capital and museum trustees the greatest enemy, "or should we be thinking how to make spaces that make art look good"? Frank Stella, the American minimalist artist and sculptor, once famously dismissed architects who design art galleries as "guys in suits that can't paint". According to him, there are millions of square feet of disused warehouses available for contemporary art that make it look better than any "neutral box".