Son[i]a #113
Mary Anne Staniszewski
The widespread idea according to which contemporary art museums are neutral, aseptic spaces, outside of time and space, is one of the principles underlying the dominant ideology of the “white cube” in exhibition practice. In her analysis of “the power of display,”
Mary Anne Staniszewski draws our attention to the fact that this visual culture has already developed into a “cult of the white cube.” If we look closely, art exhibitions don’t simply show us objects: they isolate them from their context, create different types of audiences, fragment a broader cultural framework and conceal their political potential within the white walls of the museum.
Son[i]a interviews Mary Anne Staniszewski to coincide with her lecture “The Shaping of MoMA’s Visual Culture through its Exhibitions”, in part two of the course “The History of Exhibitions: Beyond the Ideology of the White Cube.”