INSTITUTE OF CONTEMPORARY ART: EMERGING FROM THE EVERYDAY LANDSCAPE

Abstract

Art today crosses borders into neighbouring areas such as design, multi-media, advertising, architecture and cinema. Even within what is traditionally considered the fine arts, genres now encompass forms like installation, video art and performance art. The degree of pluralism in both issues and medium is unprecedented.

Art can no longer be contained within a white cube. The modern conception of placing art in the pristine context of white walls is an extreme limitation. The spatial concept of the white cube ignores the variety of spaces needed to contain the different forms of contemporary art we see today and excludes possibility of change. The museum that invites the visitor’s contemplation of serene freestanding works of sculpture and smooth succession of pictures aligned along its walls cannot serve as the model for the new Institute of Contemporary Art.

A new space for contemporary art has to be a constantly changing landscape that provides different conditions which would complement yet challenge an artist’s engagement with the space. Sited on the Esplanade Park, the subterranean Institute of Contemporary Art snakes through the site, engaging with the existing monuments on site, revealing views of important buildings within the immediate context and connecting to existing infrastructure. The building emerges and submerges, expands and contracts, allowing constant spatial and lighting change. Informal garden spaces are formed in the interstitial spaces between the galleries and the service spine. The institute becomes a space that is not just for the display of art but encourages dialogue between artists and the public as well.