Assignment 1: Commentary on Brian O'Doherty’s Inside the White Cube

      I find that Brian O'Doherty’s commentary on the gallery space in Inside the White Cube was both very thoughtful and riveting. To summarize, O’Doherty comments on the particular crisis in which not only artists, but the public domain face in regards to the gallery space; the assumptions in which the gallery spaces portray.
      The gallery space is known to be a neutral space: four white walls, a cube you might say, in which becomes directly tied to the artwork and its conceptual meaning. In this sense, the gallery space could be viewed as something beautiful, like a piece of artwork itself. However, when you disassemble the constructs of the gallery, stripping it down, you are then once again faced with a room with four white walls; a void.
      This void could be seen as just the imposed ideas from society. Whatever society deems as aesthetically pleasing, conceptually developed or rather an intelligent commentary on a particular issue or topic, the gallery then takes this work and displays it for this said society to observe and experience. This void also sets up a cultural/societal boundary in a way; it entails a specific ‘feeling’ of entitlement in which not all potential viewers are welcomed by said white cube. The gallery emits that entitled feeling by its strict boundaries and snobbish attitude towards those of society who may not fully understand or are aware of the gallery and its functions.
      So this neutral space that the gallery is said to give off is instead put into an emotion or feeling of both privilege and patronizing vibes which result negatively to certain persons of society.
 Although O’Doherty has given criticism to the gallery space, for the moment, the gallery is a fixed entity within mainstream society in regards to both the public as well as most artists.

Kristina Jovanic