tradition of glazing in museum buildings
The idea of the CCA Squirrel is not revolutionary. A number of pavilions and art museums were designed precisely with the idea of looking in from the street. The most spectacular project of its kind, which posed quite a problem for curators, was the fully glazed Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin opened in 1968, designed by Mies van der Rohe. Although the museum's temple canon had already been broken by the Museum of Modern Art building in New York, which opened in 1939, the work of Philip L. Goodwin and Edward Durell Stone, in which ground-floor glazing offered a glimpse of the entrance hall. The idea of physical accessibility and openness was also the basis of the concept for the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, both the discarded design by Christian Kerez and the current design by Thomas Phifer and Partners.
untapped potential
The widespread closure of institutions presenting art shows how the ideas on accessibility and dissemination of art undertaken by the architects of the edifices have proved to be valid. Of course, this is not always and everywhere possible, nor does it mean that this strategy should be abused. CCA Squirrel has shown that a window is enough. In Wroclaw, for example, there is a kiosk - GOLDEN KIOSK. But above all, you have to want, because to want is to be able.
Bartolomeo Koczenasz during the installation of "Image from Storehouse #9".
Photo: Katarzyna Jagodzinska
The presentation of the ninth "Image from the Storehouse" has just begun. Thirteen are planned. And at the end all the works will be shown in an exhibition, in a gallery, no longer through a window. But the idea of a small window in a place that relies on the power of social media and a network of friends shows what has been missing in the city.
