Chapter 10

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 – Monuments

LAND ART

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’.

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.

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.

EPHEMERAL ART

Figure 10.13, p.205 CAI GUO-QJANG. Transient Rainbow over East River. New York City (2002).

PUBLIC ART

Figure 10.21, p.209 ANISH KAPOOR. Cloud Gate. Millennium Park, Chicago.

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’.