The white cubes are stacked in such a way that they look as though they could collapse at any moment. The boxes labeled “museum” seems to be sending out an SOS. As the word suggests, this piece represents an art museum.
What kind of space do you imagine when you hear the word “art museum”?
It might be a white space surrounded by white walls. This is rational design that allows any type of work to be easily exhibited. That sort of space is called a “white cube”.
A majority of art museums utilize this so called “white cube” design. This artwork might be questioning the homogenized approach of art museums and art.
And here, the art poses a question to you.
Many of the artworks in the Echigo-Tsumari Art Field cannot be contained within an art museum. If you exit the white cube you may find that the charm of other places are brought out by art, like paddy fields, closed schools, old Japanese-style houses, the landscape and whole communities.
But how about the space that you are in right now? Isn’t this artwork raising the issue of homogenization?
In 2012, KINARE underwent renovation to become a contemporary art museum. However, why did the Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale, which is characterized by its exhibition of artworks beyond the four walls of an art museum, feel the need to even have an art museum, in the traditional sense, after all this?
This artwork may be questioning it’s very host-- the Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale itself.