Abstract:
In South Africa, both the public art museum and
commercial art gallery, as distinct spatial building
types, have a level of framed separation from the urban
context. By drawing general comparisons between local
examples, and a direct comparison with two commercial
galleries as case studies, I argue that it may be valuable to
re-frame the place of the art gallery and the image of the
gallery within the city. I propose a contextual reading of
galleries as significant material sites in the contemporary
urban landscape. This paper explores the thresholds
between exhibition space and city, depiction and reality
and interior and exterior space. Edward Casey’s definition
of boundary as pliable and porous, as distinct from the
restrictive edge of a border, establishes a basis for the
theoretical investigation. Both these definitions require
consideration when viewing urban thresholds related to
museum and gallery interventions. I refer to Werner Wolf
and Joan Ramon Resina and the terms frame and framing
as a conceptual tool to clarify the role of the building as a
framing device and image in the city. This article builds on
previous published research (2014, 2016, 2018) and aims
to address the subtle border between an art institution
and its immediate urban environment, and the relevance
of architecture in this act of situating and framing. The interactions with the urban environment if it is viewed as a gallery and buildings as architectural works within it extends this aim.
