U bijeloj kocki: ideologija galerijskog prostora

Brian O'Doherty 

Atelje A22 is pleased to announce the publication of the Montenegrin translation of Inside the White Cube: The Ideology of the Gallery Space, one of the most influential and relevant works in contemporary art criticism, art theory, and museum and curatorial studies. The book was written by Irish-American art critic, writer, and visual artist Brian O’Doherty, and translated into Montenegrin by art theorist Milovan Novaković.

Inside the White Cube examines the relationship between works of art and the modern institutional context in which they appear — the gallery space. O’Doherty explores the complex connections between art, power, and ideology, defining the gallery — which he calls the “white cube” — as an environment that fundamentally shapes the perception and reception of artworks. The essays included in this publication were first published in 1976 in Artforum, and later collected into book form in 1986. Atelje A22 presents to readers the most recent, third expanded edition, including the author’s afterword and an insightful foreword by American art historian and classical scholar Thomas McEvilley.

The significance of this book, widely regarded as a classic of contemporary art literature, far exceeds the historical moment of its original publication. Its reflections remain essential to current discussions on art and both institutional and non-institutional exhibition spaces. The questions O’Doherty raises about the relationship between art, galleries, and audiences continue to resonate within contemporary artistic production and its dependence on the gallery–museum context. This cult classic, translated worldwide, is not merely an academic text; with its dense, literary, and stylistically refined language, it serves as an enduring source of inspiration for art historians, theorists, artists, curators, museologists, and all participants in the art world. His analysis of the gallery space — the “white cube” — and the institutionalization of art laid the foundation for future critical thinking about the nature of art and the ways we perceive and interpret it.

“Those who have not yet read Brian O’Doherty will delight in his poetically crafted, elegantly written, and ironically toned critique of many accepted views on the mainstream of twentieth-century art.” — Jan van der Marck

“This brilliant analysis of the sociological, economic, and aesthetic contexts within which we experience art examines the critical relationships between context and content, and with wit and irony exposes the myth of the neutrality of the gallery or museum space. These essays mark a turning point in artistic perception.” — Barbara Rose

About the Author:
Brian O’Doherty (1928–2022) was an art critic, writer, and visual artist. In addition to his most famous book Inside the White Cube, he authored American Masters: The Voice and the Myth (1973) and Object and Idea: An Art Critic’s Journal, 1961–1967, and edited the volume Museums in Crisis (1972). His novel The Deposition of Father McGreevy was nominated for the Booker Prize. His artworks are held in numerous private and public collections, including MoMA, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Centre Pompidou, Dublin City Gallery, the Irish Museum of Modern Art, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum, among others.

The publication of this book was supported by the Ministry of Culture of Montenegro.

Contents:
Acknowledgments | Foreword: Thomas McEvilley | Notes on the Gallery Space | The Eye and the Spectator | Context as Content | The Gallery as Gesture | Afterword

Imprint

U bijeloj kocki: Ideologija galerijskog prostora
Brian O’Doherty

Translation from English: Milovan Novaković
Graphic design: Atelje A22

Extent: 113 pages
Format: 12 × 18 cm
Binding: paperback

Year of publication: 2024
ISBN: 978-9940-8787-5-7

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