HOW to write about an exhibition which has been cancelled…? How to describe an empty room in one of Scotland's leading public art galleries? Not just any old empty room. We're talking about Gallery 1 on the ground floor of Glasgow's Gallery of Modern Art (GoMA), a splendid example of early nineteenth century neo-classical architecture, with its beautiful barrel-vaulted ceiling and imposing Corinthian columns.

Gallery 1 has been empty for a week now and it will remain so for the next five months. The only visible artworks are large billboard posters covering the windows advertising the fact the exhibition is cancelled.

During this period, which had been set aside for Dutch artist Marlie Mul's first exhibition in Glasgow, the public are being invited to propose alternative uses for the space.

It's not exactly a new idea in art terms, but it's fairly radical for a publicly-funded gallery to run with it.

"Why not say, 'there is no review today'?" a friend suggested on Facebook. Tempting, but since all editors live in fear of the blank page, I can only imagine his response.

In the same thread, someone else writes: "Please don't! Tell it how it is… seriously boring! It's obvious something as crass and boring as this it's going to get a reaction."

Nothing exercises people more than art which involves no obvious making. It is a debate which has been going on ever since Marcel Duchamps took the proverbial p**s with his urinal called Fountain in 1917.

Back in the sink hole of social media, Dougie stepped into the fray. "This isn't like Robert Barry's Closed Gallery of 1969, or when Maria Eichhorn closed the Chisenhale Gallery [in London] last year," he wrote on GoMA's Facebook page. "This is a public art gallery which, instead of putting on just another boring show, is opening up the exhibition space to the public. If you think it's dull and boring, then quit your moaning and propose something better!"

My neighbour Penny – mother to two inquisitive wee boys, aged six and four – intervened. "I'm going to take the boys and their scooters and let them race around," she told me. "It'll be living art. Especially when they start to fight over who looked at who!"

So it happened that Penny, Max and Leo (minus the scooters) ended up in GoMA with me this week. "Are we going to the exhibition in the empty room now?" asked six-year-old Max when we picked him up from school. To misquote Picasso, nothing washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life more than a wee shiny face all excited about seeing an exhibition in an empty room.

My first thought on walking into the gallery was how beautiful it looked. It's a space I've been in countless times but there's always been art inside it. This time, I looked at it properly. The bright sunshine outside cast shadows on the highly-polished floor. The red lettering from Mul's "CANCELLED" window panels added a rosy hue to the shadows. These magnificent Corinthian columns provided a frame for the whole space. As for that sexy barrell-vaulted ceiling? I was tempted to lie down on the floor and just gaze in awe.

The building which houses GoMA has a long, rich and complicated history. It started life as a mansion house built in 1778 by Tobacco Lord William Cunninghame. As the once suburban area became a thriving business district, the original mansion house went through several incarnations; from bank, to business exchange to library.

While the boys tested out the acoustics, Penny and I discussed how the building had been forged on the profits of the slave trade, Max and Leo were more interested in us counting to ten so that hide and seek could commence. Then it was a quick game of tig before someone fell over and tears were shed.

"This is such an empty room," Max declared as we exited. "It's very echoey. I think it should have more art in it though."

"I like it," said four-year-old Leo.

The next day, I caught up with Will Cooper, Curator of Contemporary Art at GoMA, fresh from dealing with a maelstrom of tabloid outrage following the opening of a non-exhibition under his watch.

"We've had a chance to gauge reaction from visitors – not just the press," he said. "There's been a healthy response from people wanting to use the space in the next five months, which is great. I'm keen to do things which are not necessarily to do with art. That's how we get new audiences in."

According to Cooper, the requests have ranged from artists "outside the system" looking to have their paintings in the space, to charities and social enterprises looking to hold events. In the next five months, expect toddler and baby groups, life drawing classes, artist-led talks, yoga classes and more.

The exhibition is, says Cooper, a "pause" in normal service. "It is finite," he adds. "Normal service will be resumed in this space in December.”

Marlie Mul: This exhibition has been cancelled, Gallery of Modern Art (GoMA), Royal Exchange Square, Glasgow until October 29, 2017.

www.glasgowmuseums.com