Site-Specific Art

Site-Specific Art Definition • Site-Specific art is produced for one location. • The content and the meaning are linked to the site. • The phrase ‘site-specific art’ started in the 1960s and 1970s as a blanket category for art that was created for or in, a specific location. Types of Site-Specific Art • There are many types, goals, and styles of site-specific art including: – Land and environmental art – Ephemeral art – Public art – Monuments LAND ART Earthworks/ Land Art • Prehistoric artists of the Americas made monumental sculptures that used the surface of the Earth itself as material: this was additive sculpture on a very large scale • Because of their enormous size, earthwork projects need the collaboration of many artists and workers • Many contemporary artists believe that earthworks should represent a harmony between nature and humanity 2.154 Great Serpent Mound, c. 800 BCE–100 CE, 1330 x 3’, Locust Grove, Adams County, Ohio Chapter 2.9 Sculpture PART 2 MEDIA AND PROCESSES Great Serpent Mound ▪ As can be readily seen from the air, it resembles a snake with its mouth open, ingesting an egg ▪ The head of the serpent and the egg are aligned to the position of the setting sun on the summer solstice, suggesting that it was used in making solar observations ▪ The original artists heaped piles of earth to “sculpt” this work onto the Ohio landscape Gateways to Art: Understanding the Visual Arts, Debra J. DeWitte, Ralph M. Larmann, M. Kathryn Shields Figure 10.1, p.1987 ROBERT SMITHSON. Spiral Jetty, Great Salt Lake, Utah (1970) Black Rocks, salt, earth, eater, and algae. L:1,500’; W:15’. Chapter 2.9 Sculpture PART 2 MEDIA AND PROCESSES Robert Smithson, Spiral Jetty ▪ Smithson chose a spiral, a shape naturally found in shells, crystals, and even galaxies ▪ The coiled artwork was made by dumping 6,550 tons of rock and dirt, off dump trucks, gradually paving a spiraling roadbed out into the salt lake ▪ Over the years the lake has repeatedly submerged and then revealed the sculpture ▪ The artwork is constantly evolving as it drowns and then rises with a new encrustation of salt crystals Gateways to Art: Understanding the Visual Arts, Debra J. DeWitte, Ralph M. Larmann, M. Kathryn Shields Figure 10.3, p.199 ANDY GOLDSWORTHY. Ice Star (12 January 1987). Cibachrome photograph. 76cm x76cm. Scaur water, Penpoint, Dumfriesshire, Scotland. Figure 10.5, p.198 0MARCO EVARISTTI. The Ice Cube Project (2004). Red dye and seawater, Greenland coast. • Marco Evaristti (born 1963) is a Chilean artist who has lived in Denmark since the 1980s • Evaristti's next major work, in 2004, entitled Ice Cube Project, was to paint the exposed tip of a small iceberg, was to paint the exposed tip of a small iceberg red. This took place on March 24, in Kangia fjord, was to paint the exposed tip of a small iceberg red. This took place on March 24, in Kangia fjord near Ilullissat, Greenland, was to paint the exposed tip of a small iceberg red. This took place on March 24, in Kangia fjord near Ilullissat, Greenland. With two icebreakers, was to paint the exposed tip of a small iceberg red. This took place on March 24, in Kangia fjord near Ilullissat, Greenland. With two icebreakers and a twenty-man crew, Evaristti used three fire hoses and 3,000 litres (790 US gallons) of paint to color the iceberg blood-red. The artist commented that, "We all have a need to decorate Mother Nature because it belongs to all of us." Figure 10.7, p. 199 WALTER DE MARIA. The Lighting Field (1977). 400 polished stainless steel poles, each d.5.1(2) x h. 628.7(247.5), total area 1 mile x 1km. Quernado, New Mexico. Figure 10.9, p.203 Ariel view of The Gates in Central Park with Manhattan Skyline. Figure 10.12, p.202, CHARLES SIMONDS. Landscape - Body - Dwelling (1971). Artist’s body, clay. Life Size. EPHEMERAL ART Figure 10.13, p.205 CAI GUO-QJANG. Transient Rainbow over East River. New York City (2002). • The Museum of Modern Art commissioned special projects by contemporary artists to celebrate the opening of its temporary new home in Queens on June 29. • Among them is Transient Rainbow, a minute-long fireworks program conceived by artist Cai Guo-Qiang, produced by Fireworks by Grucci Inc., and organized by Lilian Tone, Assistant Curator in MoMA’s Department of Painting and Sculpture and the office of the Deputy Director for Curatorial Affairs. A rainbow of fireworks will cross the East River, tracking the Museum’s movement from Manhattan to Queens. PUBLIC ART Figure 10.18, p.206 ANTONI GAUDI. Serpent/Salamander (1900-1914). Parc Güell, Barcelona, Spain. Figure 10.21, p.209 ANISH KAPOOR. Cloud Gate. Millennium Park, Chicago. Figure 10.22, p.210 Cow from the Cow Parade (2006). Boston, Massachusetts. MONUMENTS Figure 10.24, p.209 PETER EISENMAN. Holocaust Memorial, Berlin (2004). Figure 10.28, p.211 MAYA YING LIN. Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Washington, D.C. (1982). Polished black granite. L:492’. What to study • Types (or categories) of site specific art) • Definition of site-specific art • Name and nickname of Anish Kapoor’s famous sculpture in Chicago • Purpose of and definition of monuments.

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