The inventive space was founded with the blessing of publican Richard Battye and Liliana Sanguino: “The first exhibition in the toilet happened in January 2005, and was done by Deborah Castillo, a Venezuelan artist. The exhibition had the title of 'South American Cleaner' and for it she took a series of photos of herself in the pub dressed up like a maid but showing her tits and ass. She then printed them in postcards and pasted them into telephone boxes, just like the prostitutes do.” Pablo de la Barra White Cubicle's curator recalls.

After Castillo, the gallery stuck and ended up with the name White Cubicle. The name was not a nudge at Jay Jopling’s White Cube in Hoxton Square. Instead it was a wider comment on the increasing emphasis on money as the art world exploded in the wake of the YBAs. “I guess The White Cubicle is in a way a way of resistance to this hyper commodification, and the possibility for the artist to do a small project, without any budget which exists outside of the normal conditions of the art world, and which give him the possibility to experiment some ideas he has on mind.” Pablo notes. 

Part of what makes the space so interesting is how lesser known artists, independent magazines (Butt, the PIX, Dik Fagazin) and serious big names sit side by side. Wolfgang Tilmans, Noble and Webster and Terence Koh have all shown in the space. All of the contributors are friends of de la Barra and regulars at the pub. The curation is very intuitive and the space is so popular there is a huge waiting list. “The space is so small, and the demand so huge, maybe we would need to commission some famous architect to do an extension!” 

Ideas around sexuality and homosexuality often inform the work. “I guess it’s just a coincidence that because a big part of the George’s customers are homosexual, a lot of the art shown there deals with issues regarding homosexual life in the contemporary world, but it’s not an imposed thematic.” What makes the cubicle so exciting is how experimental artists are allowed to be in their installations. There was a tree growing out of the toilet in i-cabin’s show. Koh transformed it into a Golden Piss Chapel. Tillmans hung a photo of Richard Branson on its walls, while Elkin Calderon restored the toilet to a perfect state. Theft, amendment or intervention of the artwork is just part of the space’s refreshing freedom. 


www.whitecubicle.org