“Contemporary art was roughly born in mid 1960’s arose in an age of questions, crisis, protest, partially realised utopias - which attest to its difference, it’s propositions and often its advocacy for new ways of looking at the world and the potential role of art in a renewed sensibility.” It was born out of artists asking and questioning the primary assumed notions of the art world. If Painting, what is painting ? If sculpture, what is sculpture? If art, what is art? If visible, what are the conditions of its visibility? Mark Pimlott, argues that this change demanded an alteration of relations not only among artists but also artists and curators, critics and audiences. “Art was thought differently, made differently, accommodated differently and would have to be looked at, differently.” However, Charlotte Klonk, an art historian argues that museums have largely been explored with a variety of forms from the exterior since 1930’s (MOMA was designed in 1930’s) however, the interior space has not much diversified and that museums became ‘blander and blander in order to be able to house the artists’ environments.’ I argue that in this process of whitening the gallery they also lost a sense of place, and an individual identity. Museums around the globe resorted to ‘a higher, cleaner, contemplative space.’Art was still displayed as something superior, something clean and something mystical, which contradicts the whole intention of contemporary art.
As a design exercise to display the work of artist James Lee Byars, I developed a series of rooms that relied on geometry and proportions in search for an absolute architecture that in turn created a sublime atmosphere. The pristine, immaculate space of one white room after another created an overwhelming space for me to which I responded by two strategies, one by creating a ‘anti-space’ room, a room that acts like a breather between the different rooms of the museum and second by introducing windows to see the city beyond as a relief for the eyes as well as giving the visitor a moment of connection with the context that gallery rests in.
I believe, contemporary art requires this relation to the everyday. It is very much about the public, of the public, created with an intent for the public. With this understanding I ask, “Is it possible to get traces of the city within the gallery? More so relevant to M HKA, as a museum for the Flanders, what would a museum for Flemish art look like? Buildings have always given a sense of identity, they are representations of the people that live and operate within them. What is then the language of M HKA ? Is there a possibility to arrive at a balance between the white walls and the rundown found spaces? What happens when musesums become places with active visitors ? How does the materiality support and cater to a more inclusive environment? These were some of the questions that have shaped my proposal.