Over the past several days our class has visited a number of museums and in doing so have experienced exhibition spaces which employ the stratagem of the classic white box, a space designed to accommodate the aesthetic of any artist, and tailored spaces designed to showcase the work of one artist. The Whitney is a fantastic example of the white box as its white walls beautifully displayed a variety of sculptures, projections, paintings, and more. But the general consensus within the class was that the Whitney left something to be desired, that is, it did not feel like the works on display were at home within the gallery. In comparison the Noguchi Museum, a tailored space built and funded by Noguchi himself, formed a cohesive unit with all of the work within. Each sculpture seemed as if it had stemmed from the floor and blossomed where it stood. Nothing looked out of place. But, in keeping with this idea of a tailored space, I wonder what people thought when walking through the 9/11 memorial? How would the memorial have been different had all of the walls been white? Would the emotional responses ellicited been the same? Would things have looked out of place or out of context? Could the exhibition travel or would the artifacts begin to appear as kitsch if removed from ground zero?
-J.L. Gazabat