What is ‘minimal’ anyway? John Pawson: Plain Space at the Design Museum and About a Minute at the Gopher Hole

Architecture shows and biennales have proliferated in the last decade, accompanied by new courses and publications on architectural curation. The curation of an exhibition can be as complex and political as the realisation of a work of architecture. It can be presented as an effective vehicle for critical discourse, challenging the traditional definition of architectural practice as the design, procurement and construction of a building. In response, existing architecture exhibition spaces are adapting and new galleries are opening, reconceptualising modes of display. This review considers two contrasting architecture exhibitions on show in London at the turn of 2011, each with different agendas, ambitions and audiences.