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ART105 Introduction to Visual Art
Journal: Site-Specific Art Proposal
According to your textbook (pg. 193), four different types of site-specific art are: land art, ephemeral art, public art, and monuments or memorials. However, these terms are by no means mutually exclusive. A single artwork can fit more than one of these categories simultaneously.
Instructions: Create a proposal for your own site-specific artwork that fits a minimum of three of the four site-specific categories listed above. You do not need to draw or build your project, so dream big. What you do need to do is explain your piece in detail (in both form and meaning), title your piece, and explain how your piece is site specific and fits three of the four categories.
As always, your journal entry should be a minimum of 300 words long. Journal responses must be proofread for errors and spell checked. Students who have obviously not proofread and/or spell checked their entries or have not followed the above instructions will lose points.
Example: Take as an example Robert Smithson’s Spiral Jetty, 1969-70 (pictured in page 194 of your textbook), which can be seen to fit all four categories. (Remember, however, that you will be inventing your own piece, not finding one in the textbook!)
Smithson was inspired to create Spiral Jetty as he was scouting out the Great Salt Lake in Utah for possible land art locations. He discovered a site littered with abandoned equipment left behind by a mining company. Apparently, the mining company had tried to extract tar and oil from the site, but had left their equipment behind when the attempt failed. Smithson saw the site as evidence of nature’s enduring power; he believed that despite whatever harm humans may inflict upon nature, nature will reclaim itself in the end, outliving humankind. Thus, Spiral Jetty was meant to be a monument to nature.
Smithson wanted Spiral Jetty to relate to its site in both its form and its function. Therefore, he researched the site before determining the shape the jetty would take. He learned of a local Native American legend stating that an underground tunnel or vent ran from the Great Salt Lake to the Pacific Ocean, creating a whirlpool in the middle of the lake. He also wanted to relate the high salt concentration in the Great Salt Like to the concept that salt molecules are spiral-like in nature. Thus, the shape of the jetty was determined the characteristics of the site itself, reinforcing its site-specificity. Clearly, a spiral jetty would not work anywhere else but in the Great Salt Lake.
Spiral Jetty was constructed out of local dirt and rocks moved into position via bulldozers and earthmoving equipment. Since its original inception, its mediums have expanded to include pink bacterial forms growing on the jetty and the accumulation of white salt crystals. Because it is made out of the natural environment, it is clearly distinguished as a work of land art.
When Spiral Jetty was created, Utah was in the midst of a drought. Subsequently, when rain levels rose to normal several years later, Spiral Jetty was completely submerged. Much of the time, Spiral Jetty is now completely under water, but during drought conditions, the jetty returns to view. Eventually, however, Spiral Jetty will completely erode, and thus is temporary or ephemeral in nature (although much ephemeral art is meant to have a much shorter lifespan than Spiral Jetty). This is apt, as the piece is meant to speak to nature’s power to reclaim itself despite human intervention in the landscape.
Finally, although the piece is in a remote location “maintained” by the Dia Art Foundation, it is meant to be visited by all those who wish to make the pilgrimage. It is not in the collection of a single collector, museum, or gallery, but is mean to be owned by “the public.” The piece is thus also a work of public art.
How to hand in your work:
Click the ” Journal: Site-Specific Art Proposal” link above. Type your name in the “Comments” text box and attach your work as a Word document file. (Remember to save your work with your last name in the file name.) If you do not have Microsoft Word, copy and paste your work into the “Comments” box. Click “Submit” to hand in your journal assignment.
