CUBE Gallery has curve appeal.

Jane Anderson, creative director of design centre CUBE Gallery, reveals the secret to the ideal exhibition space. ‘No cobwebs,’ she tells Neil McQuillian

With The Perfect Gallery, artist Christian Jankowski has taken CUBE back to the drawing board, stripping it bare to reveal the building’s award-winning design in its unadorned state. ‘We spent a good month cleaning the gallery, taking out all the nails and screws and all the things stuck in the ceiling from previous exhibitions,’ says CUBE’s creative director Jane Anderson. ‘Even though CUBE emerged in 1998 as an architecture centre we have never actually shown off our architecture as a gallery. With this exhibition, the space is the art. It’s quite a bold move, showing the whole building as sculpture.’

But what makes this gallery so special that it can exhibit itself? Architecture Today’s Ian Beaumont has observed of CUBE that ‘throughout [its] galleries the changes in surface and volume, the quality of light and the legibility of the circulation combine to create a sophisticated ambience.’ In other words, this particular cube has curves.

A complete prankster

The exhibition itself originated in a project at Pump House Gallery where Jankowski worked with Gordon Whistance of the BBC’s House Invaders to explore the idea of an ideal exhibition space (the BBC documentary about this project is on view at CUBE as part of the show). It’s an audacious proposition to present an empty gallery as art, not least as Jane Anderson Considering considers the artist concerned a ‘complete prankster’. Was she not concerned that Jankowski might be duping her? ‘I think at one point in the video Gordon Whistance doesn’t have a clue what’s going on. He’s trying to present it as if it’s a normal House Invaders show but he’s getting a bit nervous.’

‘We were explaining things to the gallery volunteers and they did seem a little unsure. When visitors come at first there is real terror. What has CUBE done – it’s an empty space? Once they engage with it, though, the feedback has been that the space is beautifully designed.’

So is CUBE the perfect gallery? ‘Yes! It is. Hodder, the architects, are fantastic. It’s twelve years old and it still looks fresh. No cobwebs.’

The Perfect Gallery by Christian Jankowski, CUBE, until 11 September (12pm-5.30pm Mon-Fri, 12pm-5pm Sat). Free. Image: The Perfect Gallery, photo by Steve Bliss.

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