When the black box meets the white cube: spatial shifts and postdramatic aesthetics in performance art
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: This study explores the spatial transformation of contemporary performance art between theater and art museum. By tracing the adaptive changes of performance works in different locations, this article reveals how Black Box Theater and White Cube Gallery foster the transformation of aesthetic expression and creative logic. Combining the perspectives of drama theory and spatial criticism, this article proposes that performance space is not only an artistic container but also a co-creator of meaning generation. Typical cases of traditional theater, contemporary art museum, and remade industrial space are selected to analyze how the site characteristics reconstruct performance relationships, narrative strategies, and institutional discourse. Iconic works such as Marina Abramovich's The Artist is Present, along with site-specific creative practices, demonstrate the revolutionary challenge of mixed spaces to theater and visual art paradigms. It is found that different spatial forms can profoundly affect the perceptual intensity, emotional transmission and political metaphor of performing arts, which opens a new possible avenue for interdisciplinary artistic practice.
Source: Advances in Humanities Research
Author: Zhihan Ren
Institution: University of the Arts London
Language: English
Subfield: Visual Arts and Performing Arts
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W4411218464