I really need to make some decisions about what I want to achieve from my gallery design. In my previous posts I have talked about how I like museums and galleries where you can get lost and there is less of a sense of being directed, this is definitely something I want to achieve. But there are other things to think about, like how can I make spaces for inter-disciplinary works that we have on our course, lighting and colour in the rooms/spaces, scale etc. I am already thinking that it will be a series of interconnected rooms rather than a wide open gallery. But I am unsure of how to connect the rooms. Normally in a gallery or museum rooms are connected through doorways that allow you to see into the next room. This is so that thework in the next room can catch your attention and lead you on. I’m not sure if I want to design my gallery like this.
I’ve spent today making different plans to try and clear up what I want to do.
On Friday I visited the Dulwich Picture Gallery (designed by Sir John Soane whose museum I visited a couple of weeks ago) and the Victoria and Albert Museum as part of the research I am doing into different gallery spaces. The Dulwich Picture Gallery is on a far smaller scale than the V&A, so its architecture reflects this. The gallery has a clear main axis with arches separating the galleries, though they are so big that the separation is more ideological that actual. This is different when looking at the rooms that have been added through the galleries history. The separation of these rooms from the main gallery is more apparent, not only in the colour they are painted but also in their shape and the doorways that seperate them.
The thing that struck me about the gallery was that it housed a mausoleum. This was dedicated to those who made the gallery possible, the benefactors and the founder of the Dulwich college, in whose legacy the gallery was built. This is not something that I would use in my own design. Some things that I will consider in my own design based on this is the importance of lighting. Dulwich is one of the first examples of using ceiling windows so that there is less direct sunlight that could damage the works on show, and also to allow more wall space.
The layout of the V&A as well as its scale mean that it is far easier to get lost and loose sense of direction in the gallery, which I did a few times. In many of the galleries within the museum the exhibits themselves, within their glass cases, create the walls. In many of the rooms it is obvious to see that the layouts and designs of the spaces have changed over the years. Much of the original architecture is covered by the displays, and artificial light is used and natural light is blocked.
So the Degree show is looming, and finally I have some plans. Last week I put forward my idea to the rest of my year group on my course. I explained how I want to design part of, if not all, the gallery space in which people will show their work. The space itself would therefore be my work and I would not have anything else in the exhibition. I want to do this as a way to explore how space influences how people view art, whether through the order they see it or the experience they have in seeing it.
There was predictably a mixed response, but on the whole it seemed more positive than I had expected. The main things I have to do now is continue my research into the gallery space, begin designing the space that I want to make and work out how I am going to afford it. I will probably have to apply for funding.
Hopefully I can begin to get some design ideas in the next few weeks, as I need to get people who would be willing to show their work in my gallery and the best way is to show them what I want to do.
This is the third and final of my proposals for the three wishes project. It is also closest to the work that I am planning at the moment. The first two paragraphs come from one of my previous blogs, so sorry to be repeating myself!
The New White Cube gallery in Bermondsey is a commercial space designed specifically to showcase the work that is exhibited there. The Sir John Soane Museum in Holburn began life as a private collection within the house of the architect Sir John Soane 1753- 1837. The house has now become a museum and is slowly being restored to how it would have been upon Soane’s death in 1837.
The space in the house is in complete contrast to the space of the White Cube Gallery. And so it would be, as they were conceived nearly 200 years apart. It would appear that the concentration within both spaces is on the collections they hold. This is very apparent within the White Cube as the space is obviously designed not to be considered within the viewing of the work. It is a boring bare space, the work displayed inside it is what brings the interest. This would appear to be so that the attention is on the work rather than the space holding the work.
The Sir John Soane Museum is in a maze of a house with the appearance of trying to fit as much into the space as possible – it is the antithesis of the White Cube Gallery. But the experience of going into such a space, where the space is as interesting as the work on show, changes the way you view the works you see.
I want to create an installation within a white cube style gallery space that emphasises the differences between these spaces. The installation would be of a different type of gallery space, but would be used to show the same types of work on display in the main gallery. Galleries today are designed with visitor movement very much in mind; it is easier to get lost in older galleries. I want to show this difference through the rooms and corridors that I create in my installation. Pictured to the right is a very basic plan that I could adapt for many different galleries. Below are floor plans of other designs.
All these designs aim to combine rooms and corridors in a similar way to the Sir John Soane Museum, keeping in mind other galleries and museums, such as the National Gallery and Victoria and Albert Museum. The most important consideration is that the space is meant to show work. Therefore it would be suitable for different types of work.
This is the second of my proposals for the three wishes project:
Newer galleries, such as the Tate Modern, were designed with visitor numbers in mind. The layout of the rooms at the Tate mean that visitors are more likely to move about them in a particular way, and are also less likely to miss a room than in other galleries. Those involved in the designing of the Sainsbury Wing said, “We want to avoid the danger of visitors by-passing rooms because they are out of the way or appear to be in a cul-de-sac”. The design of the gallery subtly directs visitors in a form of crowd control that creates similar experiences for each visitor.
I want to create a different type of gallery space, so that each time a visitor comes they have a new experience and sense of the space, and therefore the artwork within the space. I have sought to create a gallery space that does not allow the visitor to easily see from one room to the next, with differing interior and exterior spaces. I have not numbered the rooms so there can be no order perceived from there, and I probably would not offer a map. I want to ignite the feeling of exploration in the visitor that I would feel when I went to galleries and museums when I was a child – The sense of discovering something new every time a different room is stumbled upon.
I do not mean by this to draw attention away from the art that housed within the space. After all it is considered to be the museum or gallery’s purpose to display art. The pieces displayed in the different spaces in the gallery become a commodity that the visitor seeks to discover, and in the discovery can appreciate the piece as something exciting that they have found.
