The Failure of the White Cube: From the 19th Century Moralist Art Museum to the 21st Century Civic Art Museum

This provocative book bridges the gap between theoretical academic writings and practical museum curating, tracing the journey from 19th-century moralist art museums to today’s 21st-century inclusive civic art museums via a sustained critique of the 20th-century formalist and heteronormative white cube model of curating in art museums. The book offers a comparative analysis of the 19th-century moralist art museum, the 20th-century formalist art museum and the 21st-century civic art museum. It critiques the white cube model, highlighting its failure to address contemporary issues of gender, identity, race and inclusivity. The author provides a clear genealogy of the white cube, detailing its six phases and charting its development and global expansion from the 1900s in Austria and Germany to the 2020s. Additionally, the book examines successful non-white cube museologies and exhibition designs before proposing a practical eight-step methodology for curatorial and exhibition design aimed at overcoming the limitations of the traditional white cube. The analysis draws on numerous detailed case studies and integrates insights from museum studies, art history, art market, collecting, institutional art systems, curatorial studies, cultural studies and practical curatorial experience. This thought-provoking research will be of interest to students, researchers and practitioners in the fields of museum studies, art history, architecture and exhibition design, and especially curatorial practice.