Paulina Sztabiska University of d SPACES OF FREEDOM:THE ROLE OF GEOMETRY IN LAND ART

Abstract: Theissueofspaceplayedasignificantrolein20thcenturyart.Thenotionevolved fromabstractmodernistspacetorealsurroundingsinwhichthework,theartistandthe recipient all functioned. In this paper, the author addresses the issue of space comprehended in termsoffreedom,whichwasunderstoodverybroadlybytherepresentativesofLandArt,i.e. bothasartisticfreedomandastheliberationofmankind.TheLandArtistsarguedthatthe works shown in galleries were disconnected from social life, and only functioned as a laboratory ofnewformsandprojects.Therefore,theyattemptedtoinverttherelationbetweenthe appropriateandtheinappropriateenvironmentforart,lookingforsiteswhichwerenot burdenedwithculturalmeanings,andthustowidenthescopeofartspresence.Theywere particularlyeagertorealizetheirprojectsindesertsandinremote,isolated,barelyaccessible spaces. Especially the mountains, prairies and deserts of south-eastern America fascinated them onaccountoftheirvastexpansesofentirelyoralmostentirelyemptylandscape.Suchspaces gave them a sense of limitless freedom. At the same time according to the author the Land Artists liberated geometric forms from stereotypes and their strong cultural markedness. In their works, geometric forms acquire new, unprecedented meanings, alluding to entropy, decomposi-tion,transienceandprocessuality.TheseartistsdemonstratethattheEuclideanshapesdonot necessarily convey universal meanings (as was assumed by Malevich and Mondrian, and many artistswhofollowedthem)butcanbealsoassociatedwithwhatisindividualandfleeting. Consequently,geometryrevealsitsdescriptivepowers;itcanbeassociatedwithnarration (RobertSmithsonsSpiralJetty),process(theactionsofDennisOppenheim),therecordingof transienceandmovement(RichardLong),andpredominantlytheunlimitedfreedomofspace, time, matter and artistic expression. Keywords: geometry freedom Land Art A significant issue raised by the artists active in the 1960s was the necessity of appreciating the importance of the site at which the artwork is created and the rolewhichitplaysintheworksreception.Amongthefirstartiststoaddress thisproblemweretheMinimalists.StephanSchmidt-Wulffenwrote:Mini-malismillustratedthattheworkisnotadefinitiveunityofformand meaning, but a fleeting creation, whose continual production requires not only 244 Paulina Sztabiska theparticipationofanartist,butalso thatoftherecipientsandtheconditions ofitspresentation.Withsuchanotionoftheartwork,Minimalismlaidthe foundationsforthedevelopmentofsite-specificart,reflectingthedecisive conceptual change taking place within our whole culture in the 1960s, a switch fromessentialisttorelationistthinking.Thecriticstatedthatwhenthe movementaddressesthethemeofcontextuality,itdoessoyetagaininan idealisticmanner1.EvidentintheworkofsuchMinimalistsasCarlAndre, DanFlavin,DonaldJudd orRobertMorrisistheirattentiontothesite,albeit perceived primarily as specific gallery space which meant that the addressed issueswereconsideredinanartificial,isolatedspace,withoutanyrelationto reallife.ItwasonlytherepresentativesofLandArtandPublicArtwho decidedtotranscendtheboundariesofthegalleryandbegantoimplement theirprojectsdirectlyintheopenspaceorinthecityspace2.Grzegorz Dziamski is correct in observing that the aim of Robert Smithson, as well as otherAmericanrepresentativesofLandArt,wastoleadartoutofenclosed gallery spaces and to recover its position in extra-artistic space3. In the case of EarthArt,itwasanexpansiontowardsnature.Theworksshowningalleries did not have their place in social life and were only functioning as a laboratory ofnewformsandprojects.Therefore,theLandArtistsbegananattemptto invert the relations between the appropriate and the inappropriate environ-mentforart,lookingforsiteswhichwerenotburdenedwithculturalmean-ings.Theywereparticularlyeagertorealizetheirprojectsindesertsandin remote,isolated,barelyaccessiblespaces.Especiallythemountains,prairies anddesertsofsouthernandeasternAmericafascinatedthemonaccountof their vast expanses of entirely or almost entirely empty landscape. Such space gave them a sense of limitless freedom. Their search for it may be linked with thehippiedreamsoffindingthelandofhappiness.Inthiscase,freedomis understoodastheeradicationofconflictsratherthanproducingasolution. This eradication was supposed to transpire through locating a place (actual or imaginary) in which problems would simply disappear. Thus, these artists did notunderstandfreedomasarighttoexpresstheiropinionsinanongoing debate(aswasthecasewiththerepresentativesofPublicArt4),butinstead 1S.Schmidt-Wlffen,ForgetMinimalism.Minimal/Maximal.MinimalArtandits Influence on International Art of the 1990, exhibition catalogue, curated by Peter Friese, Neues Museum Weserburg Bremen, Kunsthalle Baden-Baden, Centro Galego de Arte Contemporanea, Santiago de Compostela, 1994, p. 65. 2Ofcourse,variousactionssuchashappeningsalsofrequentlytookplaceoutsiderthe gallery;however,theiraimsweredifferenttheywerenotintendedasananalysisofthesite and its specificity, but as a means of activating the viewer. 3 G. Dziamski, Sztuka u progu XXI wieku, Pozna 2002, p. 180. 4 In Public Art, the artists independence was identified with the right to express his or her own, frequently controversial opinion, to provoke a debate, to engage in polemics. Freedom was understood as a determiner of democracy, which according to Rosalyn Deutsche constituted SPACES OF FREEDOM: THE ROLE OF GEOMETRY IN LAND ART245 envisioned agreement and unity in thought. As a result, the Land Artists were looking for the spaces completely free of any cultural or political contexts and meanings, autonomous and free of conflicts, pure and not dependent of mundane circumstances. Only there would it be possible to find complete artistic freedom. The enormous, seemingly endless landscapes of some American states proved idealforthispurpose.MichaelHeizerwasparticularlyfondofthedrydesert valleyandtheerodingmountainsinthevicinityofLasVegas,Nevada. SmithsonenjoyedthesurroundingsoftheGreatSaltLakeinUtah,while Dennis Oppenheim often returned to the St. John River in Maine. The unique-ness of the latter according to the artist consisted in the sheer scale of the empty terrain, which was simultaneously located near one of the most crowded cities of America5. It is interesting to note that, while choosing the spaces that were entirely open and free both in the physical and the figurative terms, the Land Artists decided to use geometric shapes in their works. In the cultural tradition, such forms are laden with meaning. Crosses, circles, triangles and spirals immediately produce a series of symbolic references. Furthermore, they bring to mind the European avant-garde,fromwhichtheAmericanartistsquitedecisivelydisassociated themselves. I am convinced, however, that this choice was far from accidental andthat,asaresult,geometryacquiredanewmeaninginLandArt:these formsbegantobeconceivedofdifferently.Itisparticularlyinterestingto apply this perspective to the work of four representatives of Land Art: Robert Smithson, Richard Long, Dennis Oppenheim and Walter de Maria. The key issue, detectable in almost all of Robert Smithsons artistic activity, is hisinterestinmutability,fragilityandtransience.Theartistaddressesthis issuebothwithreferencetonaturalareas,i.e.sites,inwhichherealizeshis projects,andtogalleryspaces,termednon-sites6.Theartistsparallel activitiesinsideandoutsidethegallerystemmedfromhisconvictionthatthe contemporarylandscapecontinuestobeperceivedasakindofextensionof thegallery,i.e.thespacetraditionallyconsideredappropriateforart.Hewas oneofthemainfeaturesofPublicArt.SeeR.Deutsche,Agoraphobia.Evictions:Artand Spatial Politics, The MIT Press, Cambridge, London 1996. 5 Cf. H. Smagula, Currents: Contemporary Directions in the Visual Arts, New Jersey 1989, p. 276. 6StuartMorganconnectsthistermwiththesecondphaseoftheartistsactivity.Smithson used it to describe representations of the terrain on maps and photographs which were placed on gallerywalls.Theycontainabstractplacenamestogetherwithmaterialsamplesoftheterrain (oftendisplayedinchestsorboxes),thuslinkingthenotional,imaginaryanddistantwiththe concrete,directandtactile.Cf.R.Smithson,AProvisionalTheoryofNon-sites(1968). Robert Smithson: The Collected Writings, ed. J. Flam, London 1996, p. 364. 246 Paulina Sztabiska fascinatedbytheartificialityandthelimitationsofsuchspaces7.Thisiswhy Smithson did not discontinue exhibiting his work in white, sterile interiors, but ratherendeavoredtofunctioninbothspheres,internalandexternal,thus adding new regions to the realm of art8. He examined the opposition between thefreedomaffordedbynaturalareasandtherestraintsimposedonartby gallery spaces. Beginning in 1968, the majority of Smithsons works were realized directly in the natural environment, which became a constitutive element of his projects. To a large extent, this stage in the artists career referenced his earlier interests, whichconsistedinapplyingmirrorstosculpture.Suchmaterialinvolved reflexesandmutability,whichwerethusinscribedintothestructureofthe works.Subsequently,theywereusedintheDisplacementscycle,begunin 1968.Themirrorswereplacedinarockylandscape.Themostfamouswork from this cycle is Incidents of Mirror-Travel in the Yucatan (1969), sometimes referredtoasNineMirrorDisplacements;itwasdescribedbytheartist himselfinanessaynamedaftertheworksofficialtitle9.SuzaanBoettger noticesthatthetitleoftheaforementionedworkandessayalludestoJohnL. Stephenss1843travelogue,IncidentsofTravelinYucatan,inwhichthe author outlines his visit to Mexico and Central America, adopting an anthropo-logical perspective to describe numerous and extensive cities, desolate and in ruins10.BoettgerbelievesthatSmithsonfoundinthisaparalleltohisown, frequently emphasized appreciation for deteriorating sites and other manifesta-tionsofentropy,thedegradationofmatterandenergyintheuniverseto simpler states of inertness and uniformity11. The Incidents of Mirror-Travel in Yucatan cycle consisted of a series of photographs depicting the nine locations inwhichtwelverectangular,twelve-inchmirrorswereinstalledforashort 7R.Smithson,withAvalanche,Avalanche,Autumn1970[citedin:]LandandEnviron-mental Art, eds. J. Kastner and B. Wallis, London 1998, pp. 203-204. 8 The dialectic between what is inside the gallery and what exists outside its walls has also emerged as an issue in the works of other Land Artists, among them Long, Heizer, Oppenheim ordeMaria,allofwhomhavedisplayedphotographsandotherdocumentationoftheiropen airrealizationsingalleries.InLongscase,ininteriorspreparedforexhibitingart,the documentation was displayed alongside carefully arranged stones which the artist had collected duringhiswalks.Interestingly,theartistswhoexpandedtowardsnaturedidnotentirely abandongalleryspaces,treatingthemontheonehandascontradictorytonatureandopen-air realizations, and on the other as complementary to their work, offering a possibility of emphasi-zing certain issues in terms of binaries such as nature/gallery, the original/the photograph, etc. 9 The essay can be found in the collection of the artists writings: R. Smithson, Incidents of Mirror-Travel in the Yucatan. J. Flam, ed. Robert Smithson. The Collected Writings. University of California Press, 1996, pp. 119-133.10S.Boettger,IntheYucatan:MirroringPresenceandAbsence.RobertSmithson, Berkeley, Los Angeles, London 2005, p. 201.11 Ibid. SPACES OF FREEDOM: THE ROLE OF GEOMETRY IN LAND ART247 time.Theywerethendisplacedbytheartisttoadifferentterritory,and introduced into a diversified environment; to a large extent, they modified the characterandtheperceptionoftheareasinwhichtheyhadbeenplaced.At times the rectangular mirrors, the centerpiece of the work, were clearly visible andconstitutedablatantinvasionofthesurroundings,asinthecaseofthe SecondMirrorDisplacement.Inothercases,theywerebarelyperceptible amongthesurroundingnature(e.g.FifthMirrorDisplacement).Alteringthe locationofrecurringelements,theartistobtaineddiverseandfascinating effects.Hisworkwasgenerallyinterpretedasprobingthenotionoftravel, progressandconstantmovementwhichprecludesreturningtotheplaces alreadyvisited12.AnotherinterpretationheldthatIncidentspresentaphysical journeythroughthelandscape.Thenaturalenvironmentwasalwaysdiffer-entlytransformed,beingreflectedinthetwelvemirrors,thevariousarrange-mentsofwhichSmithsoninstalledinmiscellaneousareas13.Asnotedby Jeffrey Kastner, the work also addresses the issues of time and memory. This interpretationemphasizesthefactthataparticulararrangementfunctionsforaveryshorttime(fromthemomentofassemblyuntilthedocumentationis completed), whereas photography invests it with a timeless quality14. In the accompanying essay, Smithson explains his motivation for creating the worksanddescribesthesubsequentdisplacements,illustratingthemwith photographs.Whatiscrucial,however,istheconclusion,inwhichtheartist ponders the concept of transience, also present in the realization. He emphasizes that,shouldsomeonereturntothesameplace(whichisveryunlikely),heor shewillfindnothingbutmemory-traces,forthemirrordisplacementswere dismantled right after they were photographed. The mirrors are somewhere in NewYork.Thereflectedlighthasbeenerased.Remembrancesarebut numbers on maps, vacant memories Yucatan is elsewhere15. Whatisneitherdiscussedbytheartistnoraddressedintheaboveinterpreta-tions of the work is the combination of geometric forms with organic ones of artificial, man-made products and natural objects. On the one hand, the simple, geometricizedmirrorsemployedbytheartistarecontrastedwithnature, constituting a false, additional element; on the other, however, they blend to alargerorsmallerdegreewiththeir surroundings.Theyareadoptedbythe landscape. Reflecting their surroundings, they integrate with them, introducing new qualities. As a consequence, nature seems much richer and more interest- 12 This is the interpretation suggested by, among others, Suzaan Boettger in the essay quoted above (S. Boettger, p. 201).13 J. Kastner and B. Wallis, p. 201. 14 Ibid. 15 R. Smithson, pp. 132-133. 248 Paulina Sztabiska ing.Byreflectinglight,amirroracquiresacertainsubtletyandfleetingness. As the artist himself stressed, the mirror in a sense is both the physical mirror andthereflection,itisaconceptandabstraction,adisplacementofpro-perties16. Geometry, which is generally associated with introducing order and harmony, reveals a different aspect of the Incidents cycle. Despite the orderly andassiduousarrangementoftherectangularmirrors,theyinvesttheentire workwithdisquiet,whichgeneratessurpriseratherthantheexpectedorder. Especiallyinthecaseofthosedislocationsinwhichtheartistplacedthe mirrors among trees and undergrowth, the effect of atomization, fragmentation orevendecompositionisparticularlyvisible.Notonlythat;itispractically tangiblewhenonelooksattheresultingphotographs.Inthisway,geometry acquiresnewmeaning,newcharacterandtendstowardstranscendingitself andtherestrictionspreviouslyimposeduponit.Otherexamplesofworks based on the combination of mirrors and nature, the geometric and the organic, soastotranscendtheboundariesofgeometryandconveythenotionof wandering, are Ithaca Mirror Trail (1969) or Mirrors and Shelly Sand (1969-70). OneofSmithsonsmostsignificantrealizations,crucialfromtheperspective of the notion of Earthworks, is his Spiral Jetty, built in 1970. It was situated in adesolateareaknownasRozelPoint,aboutahundredmilesfromSaltLake City. As the name suggests, it is a spirally shaped basalt jetty, 1500 feet long and 15 feet wide, continually washed by the dark-pink waters of Utahs Great Salt Lake17. The artist chose this spot on account of its distance from the city and the remarkable color of the water, resulting from the presence of bacteria andalgae18.Theworkwasconstructedsoastoallowtheviewerstostroll alongitfreelyasifalonganactualpier.Fromitsinception,SpiralJettywas subjectedtotheinfluenceofallpossibleatmosphericfactorsandnatural processescausingitsgradualobliteration.Fromthisperspective,thedis-cussionwhichhascontinuedforthelastfewyearsattheDiaArtFoundation (the legal owner of the work) is particularly relevant19. It revolves around the questionofwhetherSpiralJettyoughttoundergoconservationorwhetherit should be left in its natural state. Among its other activities, the foundation is conductingresearchtoestimatewhennaturewillabsorbtheworkandre-claimtheshapefromthetimebeforetheconstructionofthejetty.However, 16R.Smithson,[citedin:]Introduction,http://www.robertsmithson.com/introduction/ introduction. htm. 17 M. Sanford, The Salt of the Earth, http://www.robertsmithson.com/essays/sanford.htm. 18 Ibid. 19 The issue is addressed by M. Sanford in her essay titled The Salt of the Earth, published onJanuary13,2004,ontheartistsofficialwebsite:http://www.robertsmithson.com/essays/ sanford.htm. SPACES OF FREEDOM: THE ROLE OF GEOMETRY IN LAND ART249 theideaofleavingtherealizationtoitselfupsetssomeresearchersandart historians. Those in favor of conserving the Spiral Jetty emphasize the fact that theartistsintentionsconcerningtheworkwerenotentirelyclear.Dueto Smithsonsuntimelydeathin1973,attheageof35,nounambiguousdirec-tionswereleftastothemaintenanceofhisrealizations.Thesupportersof conservation have argued that the artists interest in entropy is not necessarily synonymouswiththewishthathisworkbecompletelyandirrevocably subjected to its influence20. DuringthediscussiononthefateofSpiralJetty,somevoicesopposingthe renovation of the work were also raised. Robert Storr, curator emeritus of New YorksMuseumofModernArtandprofessorattheInstituteofFineArtsat NewYorkUniversity,pointedoutthatephemeralityandentropyare practicallyinscribedintoLandArt.HeclaimedthatEarthworkswerenot madetolastforever.Thereisadangerwhenrestoringthemtomakeamore perfect thing than was originally done21. Another person with serious doubts about the conservation of the work is the artist Nancy Holt, Smithsons widow. Shestressedthefactthatherhusbandwasfascinatedbytheunpredictability and mutability of his work. Smithson believed that it was sufficiently durable andstrongtosurviveforaverylongtime.AccordingtoHolt,Helikedthat the work was strong enough that it could survive these natural changes He lovedthatthesenaturalprocessescanbeseen.22Theseargumentsarere-inforced by the fact that the artist was visibly fascinated by the metamorphoses undergonebythecausewayasaresultofnaturalforces.Thisshowedinhis 1971 conversation with Gregoire Mller, when Smithson described the impact ofthesnowmeltinginthemountainsandcausingthewaterleveltoriseand temporarily submerge the jetty. When the water had evaporated, the resurfaced causewaywas80%white,coveredinsaltcrystals23.InhisessayentitledThe SpiralJetty,hewrotethateachcubicsaltcrystalechoestheSpiralJettyin termsofthecrystalsmolecularlattice24.Therefore,takingintoaccountthe artists entire oeuvre, his interest in entropy and his interviews, it seems more inkeepingwithhisintentionstoleavetheworkbe,ratherthanundertake conservation or renovation. Adding new stones or removing salt crystals from the causeway so as to restore its original, dark color as suggested by some art historiansandcriticswoulddisruptthenaturalprocessesandconstitutean interventionoftoogreatamagnitude.Smithsonsconcept,formulatedinhis 20 Ibid. 21 [Cited in:] Ibid. 22 [Cited in:] Ibid. 23R.Smithson,...TheEarth,SubjecttoCataclysmisaCruelMasterinterviewwith Gregoire Mller. Robert Smithson. The Collected ..., pp. 259-261. 24 R. Smithson, The Spiral Jetty. Robert Smithson. The Collected ..., p. 147. 250 Paulina Sztabiska theoretical writings, very clearly references these qualities of the work. There-fore,Ibelievethatitwouldbemoreinthespiritoftheartistsideastoleave the work to nature and observe the triumph of entropy over geometry. What also attests to the artists sense of the works brittleness and ephemerality isthenumberofphotographsthathetookinordertodocumentit,aswellas the motion picture titled The Spiral Jetty Film. Its first frame depicts the cause-way from the perspective of its center. Then, traversing the subsequent circles, the camera gradually makes its way to the end of the pier and begins to move away from the lake. The final shot shows the entirejetty, seen from the land, spiralingawayfromtheshoreandcoilingitselftowardsthecenter.Krauss wrotethatthisframeresultsfromconstantcameramovementandits360-degreeturnalongthehorizonoftheGreatSaltLake;thehorizonisre-definedandrelocatedthroughthepointsonthecompass,andinthiswaythe monotony of the landscape is conveyed25. The author also invokes, by way of comparison, the notion of constructivist art, pointing out that in the first half ofthecentury,constructivistsculpturetendedtowardsnon-figurativenesson accountofthenon-representational,non-referentialformsoftheelements employed:smooth,transparentcelluloidrectangles,glossyaluminumgrids, dispassionatemattewoodenormetalovals.Therealnessofthesematerials, theirconnectionswiththeworkplace,thelaboratoryandtransportationdid nothingtocollidewiththeauraofabstraction,withwhichtheirshapes invested the constructivist object. The object did not seem to exist in the ideal spaceofgeometricgraphs,handbookstructuresandengineerstables.The transparency of the materials appeared to expose the ability of these intellect-uallyengenderedobjectmodelstoopenthemselvestothoughtwhichwould penetratethemfromallsidessimultaneouslyandconqueritfromtheinside. Therefore, the actual subject of constructivism was the objects transparency tothought,whichwastantamounttoatriumphofformaloperations,logicor science over matter, a baptism of the object in the cerebral sphere. In this way, theconstructivistplaneattemptstodislocatetheappearanceofthingsand redefine the object as one seen from nowhere, or as critical phenomenology wouldhaveitseenbyGod26.Therefore,Kraussbelievesthatconstruc-tivism staged a triumphant entry into the very center of the material object27. As regards Smithsons Spiral Jetty or Richard Serras realizations such as Shift or St. Johns Rotary Arc, which Krauss discusses in her text, the centralization 25R.Krauss,RichardSerra,exhibitioncatalogue,NarodowaGaleriaSztukiWspczesnej Zachta, Warszawa 1994 , p. 26. 26 Ibid. To illustrate this point, the author supplies the following quotation: For God, who is ubiquitous,widthisdirectlyequaltodepth.Intellectualismandempiricismdonotreporttous the human experience of the world; instead, they show us how God would construe it. (p. 26). 27 Ibid., p. 31. SPACES OF FREEDOM: THE ROLE OF GEOMETRY IN LAND ART251 of the object admits to a perceptional failure, to a severe attack of entropy on intuition, which Smithson believed might result in sunstroke. Looking for geometrytoendallgeometry,Smithsonfounditintheimmenseroundness ofhisspace,whichhecomparedtoarotarythatencloseditself.Theplace seemedtosuggestthemethodswhichwouldservetolimitthearroganceand self-confidenceevidentintheartwhichheknew.Noideas,noconcepts,no systems,nostructures,noabstractionscouldholdthemselvestogetherinthe actuality of that evidence, he wrote28. SmithsonsSpiralJettyandKrausssinterpretationofthatworkopennew perspectivesforgeometry.TheEuclideanshapesperceivedinartascon-ventionalizedandsubordinatedtocertainoverarchingideasconnectedwith rationalismandatendencytowardsorderandharmonyprovecapableof self-transcendence; they address the issues traditionally regarded as exceeding their possibilities. A problem similar to that of Spiral Jetty arises in the work entitled Spiral Hill andtheaccompanyingBrokenCircle,bothexecutedintheNetherlandsin 1971.Ontheonehand,inSpiralHillSmithsonusedtheformofthespiral extendingfromtoptobottom,bycreatingawhitesandpathonabrownhill. On the other hand, however, all attempts to visually centralize the work and to embrace it in its entirety must lead to disappointment. An additional effect of fragmentation is caused by the coexistence of the work with the nearby Broken Circle,constructedofsand,earthandwater,measuring140feetindiameter. Theartistwasverypreciseindeterminingthelinksbetweenthetwoworks, leavingmanysketchesanddrawings.Anotheraspectwhichhetookinto consideration in this project was its connection with its post-industrial surround-ingsanditsdamagedvicinity.Theartistexplainedthatinaverydensely populated area like Holland, I feel its best not to disturb the cultivation of the land.Withmyworkinthequarry,Isomehowre-organizedadisruptedsitua-tion and brought it back to some kind of shape29. According to Eugenie Tsai, inBrokenCircleandSpiralHillSmithsonproposedsituatingEarthArtin miningareas,disusedquarries,andpollutedlakesandriversasameansof mediating between ecology and the industrial30. Whatisinterestinginthoseworks,apartfromtheabovementionedissues,is theuseoftheshapesthespiralandthebrokencircle.Themotifhadoften appearedinSmithsonsearliestworks,whenhestillproducedfigurative 28 The Writings of Robert Smithson, ed. N. Holt, New York 1979, p. 11, cited in: R. Krauss, Richard Serra ..., pp. 29-31. 29 R. Smithson, [cited in:] Kastner and Wallis, p. 60. 30 E. Tsai, Robert Smithson: Plotting..., p. 30. 252 Paulina Sztabiska paintings.Forinstance,inFeetofChrist(1961),spiralsareembeddedin Jesuss feet, surrounding his wounds; in Man of Sorrow, the spiral is inscribed into the exposed hands. The motif was also present in objects created since the mid-1960s, e.g. in Leaning Strata or Gyrostasis, both made in 1968. The latter is built of triangular metal polygons of varying size, arranged so as to forma spiral.Theshapealsorecursinthe1967-69projectsconnectedwiththe concept of Aerial Art. On account of their size, these works were designed for beingviewedfromanairplane.Theirreceptionrequiredattainingacertain distancefromtheEarth,whichiswhysuchrealizationsweresituatedinthe vicinity of airports and practically available only to those arriving or departing byplane.Thiscanbeexemplifiedbythe1967workentitledAerialMap Proposal for Dallas Fort Worth Regional Airport, which was supposed to be built from varisized triangular pavement slabs, arranged to form a spiral. Smithsonsworks,asalreadyemphasized,frequentlyfeaturethemotifofthe spiral. Why did the artist choose this particular shape? Interpreted symbolically, it connotes helicality, infinity, development but also regress31. In various tradi-tionsithasbeenassociatedwithcyclicality,immortality,aswellaswithdis-ruptions of the natural order (e.g. a whirlwind). On the one hand, it suggested perfection,derivedasitwasfromthecircle,theidealshape.Ontheother hand,however,itsymbolizedmutabilityandtransience32.Itsmeaningwas ambiguousanditwasexactlythisambiguitythatfascinatedSmithson.Asin theartistsgeneralassumptions,whatmatteredherewastheoppositionof site and non-site, the organic and the geometric, time and space. The forms which he used were also marked by duality, manifesting itself in the combina-tionofperfectionandvariability(whichcanbeseenasaberrancefrom perfection),progressandregress,andsoforth.Theartistdemonstratesanew interpretationofancientsymbols,whileatthesametimeemphasizingtheir arbitrariness as well as their inadequacy for new artistic endeavors. Similarly, theuseofacirclenotanidealone,butbroken,unfinished,incomplete attests to an interest in mutability and imperfection. Taking into consideration the artists fascination with entropy, the use of these shapes can be interpreted as connoting the result of a natural decomposition of what was once ideal. TheformofanincompletecirclealsoappearedinAmarilloRamp33, Smithsonslastwork,begunin1973inTexasandcompleted,afterhistragic death, by Nancy Holt, Richard Serra and Tony Shafrazi. It was a ramp of 400 feetinlengthand160feetindiameter,madeofstones,intheformofan 31 W. Kopaliski, Sownik symboli, Warszawa 1990, p. 399. 32 Ibid. 33ThisworkisanalyzedindetailbyJ.Coplans:TheAmarilloRamp,Artforum,April 1974 [cited in:] Kastner and Wallis, pp. 218-219.SPACES OF FREEDOM: THE ROLE OF GEOMETRY IN LAND ART253 unfinished circle, which could also be regarded as a small fragment of a spiral. The circle gradually rose above the ground, so that the observer, walking along the path on top of it, would be further and further from ground level. The work wassituatedsomewhatsimilarlytoSpiralJetty:theentrancewaslocatedon the beach of a dried-up Tecovas lake, while the remaining part encroached on the area of the lake itself34. Analyzing Smithsons work, Stuart Morgan argued that the Earthworks, under-goingchangesasaresultofnaturalcauses,allowtherecipientstoreconsider theirrelationtotheirsurroundings,whichmayberootedin19thcentury landscapepainting.TheEarthworks,heclaimed,allowforindividualmedita-tionandmayleadtoconsiderableandsuddenemotionalandintellectual changes35. The invocation of the romantic vision of the landscape typical of 19th century American art, where empty spaces are associated with freedom is significant in view of the topic of the present volume. In his work, Smithson went against history, focusing on the status quo. He did not share the notion of art as contributing to the valuable heritage of mankind, assomethingpermanentandprecious.Instead,heemphasizedfluidityand transience,associatedwiththesenseoffreedomofboththeartistandthe recipients of the work. He saw in mutability what is currently most important, namelythelackofdurablerestrictions.Thiscanbealsogarneredfromthe following fragment of his writings: Theories, like things, are also abandoned. Thattheoriesareeternalisdoubtful.Vanishedtheoriescomposethestrataof manyforgottenbooks36.Thisexplainswhytheconceptofentropyun-doubtedly constitutes a very important point of reference in the artists work. Thenotionoftransienceandtheslowdecompositionofeverythingthat surroundsusisalsovisibleintheworkofRichardLong.Asinthecaseof RobertSmithson,thereisconsiderablecomplexitytotheartistswork.It consists in combining the realizations executed directly in natural surroundings (which Long himself described as sculptures37), the works exhibited in galleries, andtheaccompanyingshorttextsintheformofpoemsandaphorisms,with photographsdocumentingtheopen-spaceprojects.Alloftheabovecon-stituentsofLongsoeuvreareharmoniouslyintertwined,complementingone 34 E. Tsai, p. 31. 35S.Morgan,Sztukaprzeciwkosamejsobie:rysunkiRobertaSmithsona.Znotatnika kamerdynerasztuki.Wybresejwiwywiadwzlat1977-1995,E.Mikina,R.Ziarkiewicz, eds., Gdask 1997, p. 21. 36Citedin:J.Flam,Introduction:ReadingRobertSmithson.RobertSmithson.The Collected...,p.XXV.ThesamequotationappearsinSmithsonstextentitledAProvisional Theory of NonSites, ibid. 37 R. Long, http://www.richardlong.org. 254 Paulina Sztabiska anotherandcreatingaunifiedimageofhiswork.Inhisintroductoryessay, published on the artists official website (www.richardlong.org) and titled Art asaformalandholisticdescriptionoftherealspaceandexperienceof landscapeanditsmostelementalmaterials,Longemphasizesthathehas always been interested in nature38. Although he has endeavored to make it the subjectofhisart,hismethodhasbeencompletelydissimilarfromthose employedbytheartistsofthepreviousdecadesandcenturies.Firstand foremost,LongsimilarlytootherrepresentativesofLandArtwentoutintotheopenandbegantoemploythematerialsborroweddirectlyfromhis naturalsurroundings(e.g.grass,water,stones),whichgradually,astheartist emphasizes,evolvedtowardstheideaofsculpturebywalking39.Hestates: I like common materials, whatever is to hand, but especially stones. I like the idea that stones are what the world is made of40. He has never been interested in natures aesthetic merits, nor has he ever attempted to represent it mimetically orseekthehiddenstructureofreality,aswasthecasewiththeearlier tendenciesofbothancientandmodernart.Hisnotionofarthasnotbeen significantlyaffectedbyecologicalthinking,either.Longhasbeeninterested in nature predominantly as the material which can be used by the artist (i.e. its elementsthatcanbeemployedinlieuoftraditionalvisualmeans),butwhat hasfascinatedhimthemostisitsephemeralityandvolatility.Naturehas proved an excellent means of depicting transience and the attendant changes. Similarlytothenotionofnature,theideaofwalkingisconsiderablywell-establishedinculturalhistory.Discussinghisviewsandhisnewconceptof art, Long invoked the idea of the pilgrimage, the great migrations, the country walkstakenbytheEnglishRomanticsandthecontemporarylong-distance hikers. Nevertheless, in his case, walking like nature assumes a completely new, dissimilar character. Its function is to create art in a direct manner. In the past, artists often traveled so as to find inspiration for their works; visiting new places was supposed to facilitate invention. What is important for Long is the processofwanderinginitself.Itbecomesacreativeact,aworkinandof itself. Walking through the English meadows, the terrains of South and North America,themountainsofAsiaorthedesertsofAfrica,theartistleaves behindhimthetraces(madeofnaturalmaterials,foundontheway)or imprintsofhisownbody.Inthisway, hehascombinedhisinterestinnature and wandering in a completely new, original way, investing them with a very 38R.Long,Artasformalandholisticdescriptionoftherealspaceandexperienceof landscape and its most elemental materials, Bristol 2000, published on the artists official page: http://www.richardlong.org. 39 Ibid. 40R.Long,Five,six,pickupsticks.Seven,eight,laythemstraight(1980).Kastnerand Wallis, p. 241. SPACES OF FREEDOM: THE ROLE OF GEOMETRY IN LAND ART255 differentmeaningthanthattraditionallyascribedtothem.Nevertheless,it ought to be emphasized that his roaming is not intended to blaze new trails in thelandscapeorestablishnewroads.Theephemeralrealizationswhich emergeduringthesewalksaremerelytherecordsandtracesofthejourney. Theartistvalueshisfreedomanddoesnotwishtodenyittoanyonewho might one day embark on the same route. Longsfirstjourney-orientedprojectwasALineMadebyWalking(1967).It wasastraightlinetroddeninagrassmeadow.Takingthesameroutefrom onepointtoanother,theartistcausedthegrasstobend,andastraightline, concave in relation to the surrounding green area, to appear. Long interpreted thisrealizationashisownpath,goingnowhere41.Thiswasthebeginning of a new art which was also a new way of walking: walking as art42. Expand-ingonthesameconcept,hewrote:Eachwalkfollowedmyownunique, formal route, for an original reason, which was different from other categories ofwalking,liketravelling.Eachwalk,thoughnotbydefinitionconceptual, realized a particular idea. Thus walking as art provided an ideal means for metoexplorerelationshipsbetweentime,distance,geographyandmeasure-ment.Thesewalksarerecordedordescribedinmyworkinthreeways:in maps, photographs or text works, using whichever form is the most appropriate foreachdifferentidea.Alltheseformsfeedtheimagination,theyarethe distillation of experience43. In this way, Long emphasized the significant role of the artworks experiential aspect as well as its processual character. Interpretingtheartistswork,Dziamskihasarguedthatitscentralissuewas the notion of walking, whereas all the accompanying poetic texts, maps, draw-ings,photographsaswellastheobjectsemergingonthewaywereasthe critic put it merely means of evoking the notion of wandering and facilitat-ingtheviewersimagination,butnotinfactconveyingthewanderers experiences44. The emphasis on the process of wandering itself is particularly visibleinsuchworksasASixDayWalkoverallRoads,LanesandDouble TracksinsideaSixMileWideCircleCentredontheGiantatCerneAbbas (1975), A 2 and a half Day Walk in the Scottish Highlands/Clockwise (1979), or A Straight Northward Walk across Dartmoor from the same year, and in his later works, such as A 21 Day 622 Mile Road Walking Journey from the North CoasttotheSouthCoastofSpain(1990).Theobjectswhichemergedinthe wakeofthesejourneysweremerelytracesoftheartistsmovement,signsof hispresence,buttheysimultaneouslyaddressedtheissuesoftransienceand 41 R. Long, Art as formal . 42 Ibid. 43 Ibid. 44 G. Dziamski, Awangarda po awangardzie, Pozna 1995, p. 144. 256 Paulina Sztabiska the passing of time. On account of their character and their connection with the site,theyaresometimesdescribedasmarkedsites45.Theconceptis particularly evident when the works feature the traces of the artists feet or his body. For instance, in Sleeping Place Mark, executed during his wanderings in Spain in 1990, the artist photographed a dark circle in frosty grass, left by the tentinwhichhehadspentthenight.Theephemeralityandtheconnection between the resulting work and the trace of the artists presence even though itcanonlybeviewedinthephotographisstartlinginitsalmosttangible nature and its aura of a place abandoned only a moment ago. This is clearly in keeping with Longs declarations: the creation in my art is not in the common forms circles, lines I use, but the places I choose to put them in46. However, I do not believe that the function of Longs realizations ought to be limitedtothedocumentationofhisjourneys.Theartistwastooengagedand preciseinexecutingtheserealizations.Theformswhichrecurredinhiswork most often were straight lines and circles. In the case of the already discussed LineMadebyWalking,theartistusedhisownbody,namelyhisfootprints. Asimilarprincipleofabsenceasatraceofpresenceinformsthework entitledALineandTracksinBolivia(1981).Itwastheresultoftheeleven days of the artists traversing the Bolivian Lava plain, where he trod a straight path through the natural ground and the surrounding plants. In his other works, involvingadditionratherthanelimination,Longwouldgenerallyusethe fragments of nature found on the current site stones, sticks or gravel. Stones wereused,forexample,inhisrealizationentitledALineintheHimalayas (1975).Theartistgatheredlight-coloredrockswhichhelaterusedtoformalinecontrastingsharplywiththedarkstonesandearth.ALineinJapanon MountFuji(1979)consistsoflargerocksplacedsidebyside,formingaline againstlittlestones.ALineinBoliviaandALineinScotland,bothmadein 1981,consistofverticallypositionedrocks.Writingabouttheseworks,Long claimed:mystonesarelikegrainsofsandinthespaceofthelandscape47, thus indicating their ephemerality and fragility in relation to the universe. Equallyoften,Longresortstocirclesandrings.Theyaremadeofvarious naturalmaterialsfoundbytheartist(stones,branches,etc.)or,likehisline-shaped works, they emerge as a result of eliminating or treading fragments of a particular terrain. This choice of shape was briefly explained by Long in one ofthecoupletsincludedinhistextFive,Six,pickupsticks,Seven,Eight,lay themstraight:Ichooselinesandcirclesbecausetheydothejob48.Among 45 This problem is discussed by Dziamski in his book, quoted above.46 R. Long, Five, p. 242. 47 Ibid. 48 Ibid. SPACES OF FREEDOM: THE ROLE OF GEOMETRY IN LAND ART257 hisworksfeaturingstoneswereCircleintheAndes(1972),SaharaCircle (1988), Asia Circle Stones, executed in Mongolia (1996) or Positive Negative, made in the state of Oregon (2001). The 1978 Circle in Africa was constructed fromtreetrunksandbranches,formingafenceofsorts.Whatwasfencedin, however, was merely an empty fragment of a meadow. Long also made use of lessdurablematerials,someparticularlyephemeral.In2003,inMaharashtra, India, he executed a cycle of works whose main material was a burnt fragment ofearthinvariousphasesofdecomposition.InhissculptureentitledSmokey Arc, the artist built a circle from dry plants, which he subsequently set on fire: theworkfunctioneduntilitstoppedsmoldering,whenittransmogrifiedinto acircleofashes.InAshArc,Longmadeadarkcirclebycrushingburnt branches,visibleagainstthewhitebackgroundofscorchedplantsoccupyinga large expanse. As part of the same cycle, he created a work entitled A Walk-ing and Running Circle: he walked around on a surface covered in blackened ashesuntilawhitecircleemerged.Alloftheaforementionedworkswere madefromextremelyephemeralandfragilematerials.Furthermore,their processualaspectwasabsolutelycrucial.Asinthecaseofthelines,manyof hiscircularworksresultedfrommovement,constitutingadirecttraceofthe artists presence. Long wrote: I like the simplicity of walking, the simplicity ofstones49.Apartfromlines,circlesandrings,hisworksalsooccasionally featureXsigns,i.e.twolinescrisscrossingatvariousangles,includingthe rightangle.InEngland(1968),theartisttrodacrosssignbywalkingin afloweringmeadow,whereasinKarooCrossing(2004),heremovedsome stones, creating two irregular lines forming an X sign. ThecentralissueinLongsworkistransienceandthepassingoftime, combined with the notion of lack, absence and trace left by someone (usually theartisthimself)whoisnotpresentthereanymore.Theworksarestrongly imbuedwithanauraofmystery.Photographicdocumentationisalsocrucial, investingtherealizationswithaddedmystique,facilitatingthemultiplication ofmeaningsandthedevelopmentofinterpretation.Inthephotographsthe issueoflackandabsenceisintensifiedandmuchmorekeenlyfelt.Long emphasizedthatwalkingalsoenabledhimtoextendtheboundariesof sculpture,whichnowhadthepotentialtobede-constructedinthespaceand time of walking long distances. Sculpture could now be about place as well as material and form50. An important element in Longs work are realizations exhibited in galleries. In theseworks,asinhisactionsperformedinnaturalsurroundings,theartist usuallyemployssimplegeometricshapes(suchaslinesorcircles)andtheir 49 Ibid. 50 R. Long, Art as formal. 258 Paulina Sztabiska variations(semicircles,rings,etc.).Thestonesorothermaterialsusedinthe projectsarefoundduringhiswanderings.Thus,theyconstituteacertain documentation of his journeys, an attempt at transferring a fragment of nature into the gallery interior. The principles on which the works presented there are based are similar to those that govern his creations in the natural surroundings. Theyconsistofimprintsofhisbodypartsorarearrangedfromtheelements foundandselectedbyhiminthecountryside.Althoughtheyappearinthe galleryspace,theyoftenretaintheirephemeralcharacterbecausetheartist arranges them directly on the floor or on the wall. This means especially in the case of works featuring handprints or footprints that they are inextricably connected with their place of origin. Additionally, the material which the artist chooses(e.g.mudorstones)ontheonehandlinkstheemergentworkswith nature, but on the other makes for their transitoriness. When the mud begins to crack and fissure, the work starts to fade and decompose. In the work of yet another representative of Land Art Dennis Oppenheim geometryisbothameansofreflectingontheprocessandanopportunityto transcendboundaries,liberatingtheartistsprojectsfromtimeandspace. AccordingtoDziamski,Oppenheimsworksresembleshamanicgestures intendedtoelevateourrelationwithnatureandsaturateitwitharchetypal meanings,tonegateitsinstrumentalcharacter51.Theartistchosetheritual becausehebelievedthatthroughitsrootednessincollectivememory,itis whatallowscontemporaryarttoavoidineffectualityandshallowness52. Dziamski claims that Oppenheims interest in the above issue consisted in his attemptingtoretainabalancebetweenindividualandcollectivequalities, between actions and their derivatives53. Among the artistsmost famous works are Annual Rings (1968), executed on thepartlyfrozenSt.Johnriver,whichformsafragmentoftheCanadaUS border.InthisworkOppenheimalludedtothegrowthringswhichcanbe observed in a horizontal cross-section of trees; he cut rings in the snow and ice so that half of the circle was on the Canadian side, while the other remained on Americanterritory.Asaresultofseverefrost,theringsfrozealreadyinthe process of their creation. Consequently, it was impossible to determine whether the work was already finished or whether it was perpetually in progress. Thus, process became the crux of the work. It turned out that nature recovered the shoveledandincisedringmorequicklythantheartistwasabletoexecuteit. Oppenheimalsoaddressedanotherissue.Namely,heunderminedarbitrary, man-made divisions such as national borders or time zones. The St. John river 51 G. Dziamski, Awangarda, p. 143.52 Ibid. 53 Ibid. SPACES OF FREEDOM: THE ROLE OF GEOMETRY IN LAND ART259 runs through ameridian which determines timechange. Thus, one part of the ring supposedly functioned in a different time zone than the other. In this way, Oppenheim wanted to demonstrate the arbitrariness of territorial and temporal boundaries imposed by humans. Political boundaries are frequently considered asignificantsymptomofenslavementorspatialentrapment;theAmerican artists actions proved their irrelevance from natures perspective.The relations between time and space as well as the use of snow as the material characterizedbyexceptionalmutabilityandephemeralityareallimportant aspects of Time Line, a work made in 1968. Riding a snow groomer at 20 mph on the frozen St. John river, along the US Canadian border, the artist cut two parallellinesinthesnow.Theentireactionlastedfortenminutes.Oneline was made on each side of the border. Thus, the political boundary determined thedivisionbetweenthelinescreatedbyOppenheim.Whattheartistwas interested in here were the relations between time and space. Oppenheim drew attentiontothefactthatalthoughthetimespentonexecutinghisworkwas identical,itsmeasureonthetwosidesdividedbytheartistwasdifferent. One half of the snow groomer was belated by an hour in relation to the other, ifonetookintoaccountthetimezonediscrepancy.However,whatthework emphasizedapartfromtemporalinconsistencywasspatialdivergence;after all,Oppenheimandthesnowgroomerexistedintwocountriesatthesame time. According to Kastner, this work was intended to demonstrate the contrast betweentimeasanabstractconceptandtheexperienceoftimewhenone movedinactualspace54.Hewrote:Oppenheimsgestureillustrateshow humanmappingsystemsareimposedonthenaturalenvironment,reiterating theartificialityofmansmappingofspace55.Inthiswork,theartisttrans-cended the spatial-temporal boundary. In this way, he can be said to have ful-filledmansperennialdreamofbeingintwoplacesatthesametimeandof joining the present and the future in one action. Asimilarprinciplegovernedtwootherworksmadein1968and1969.In NegativeBoard,realizedinSt.Francis,Maine,Oppenheimcutalineinthe thickcrustofsnowandice,fillingitwithsawdust.Theartisthimselfinter-pretedthisgestureasstitchingthedamagedgroundsoastoprotectthe resultingfurrow.Inhis1969workentitledAccumulationCut(Ithaca,New York), Oppenheim used a chain saw to cut a canal measuring 60 by 40 inches, situated perpendicularly to a frozen waterfall; the canal refroze in 24 hours. In thisway,theartistsactionswererepelledbynaturalprocesses.Whatis crucial in this work is the processual aspect of the action and the mutability of the work itself, the changes that it undergoes in the course of time. 54 Kastner and Wallis, p. 50. 55 Ibid. 260 Paulina Sztabiska Anotherexampleofaprocessualapproachtoartistheactionperformedin 1969. In Cancelled Crop, the artist sowed wheat in a rectangular field measur-ing875by505feet,inFinisterwolde,Holland.Whenitgrew,Oppenheim usedaharvestertocutasignresemblinganX,eacharmconsistingofthree parallellines.However,theharvestedgrainwasnotsold.Astheartist emphasized,thenaturaldevelopmentandprocessingoftheplantswerethus stopped.Consequently,aritualreturntotherootswasachieved,briefly reestablishing the primitive system in which everyone produced foodstuffs for hisorherownuse.Oppenheimexplained:plantingandcultivatingmyown materialislikeminingonesownpigment(forpaint)56.Somecriticsinter-preting this work took the X sign to denote protest and negation in the face of economicprocesseswhichhavealsobeenfeltintheartworld57.However, I believe that taking into account the context afforded by Oppenheims other actionsaswellasbytheartistsremarksmadeduringhisinterviewsand discussions his actions can be more readily seen as pointing to an interest in transcending gallery space and in accentuating the processual character of his art58.Theelementsofprotestandopposition,althoughundoubtedlypresent, are in fact of secondary importance. Freedom was realized by means of enter-ing into natural phenomena rather than through the conflict of human ideas. Theprocessualaspectandtheephemeralityoftheartistsactionswerevery significantinthecreationofWhirlpool(1973),alsoreferredtoasEyeofthe Storm.Standingontheground,Oppenheimissuedradioinstructionstothe pilot of a plane. The latters flying in narrow circles resulted in the discharged vaportrailformingaspiralwhichresembledawhirlpooloratornado.The workwasradicallyephemeral:itbegantofadealreadyduringitscreation, which was further abetted by the wind. Therefore, similarly to other works by Oppenheim categorized as examples of Land Art, this realization only exists in the form of photographic documentation. Viewing these photographs, one cannot but wonder why the artist put so much effort into staging a precise illusion of a whirlwind, especially considering its transient character and the fact that it was performed in a desert, where nobody buttheartistcouldexperiencetheactionanditseffectsdirectly.Itisequally interestingtoreflectontheartistschoiceofgeometricshapes,whichare 56 Cited in: ibid. 57 Cf. ibid. 58 Among other occasions, the artist addressed these issues in a discussion panel at the 1969 Earth symposium, devoted to the issues of the landscape, taking place at the White Museum at CornellUniversity.Theotherparticipantswere RobertSmithson,RichardLongandWalterde Maria(citedin:RobertSmithson.TheCollected,pp.177-187andintheinterviewwith Gregoire Mller, the Earth, Subject to Cataclysms, is a Cruel Master. Robert Smithson. The Collected, pp. 253-261). SPACES OF FREEDOM: THE ROLE OF GEOMETRY IN LAND ART261 generallyassociatedwiththepermanentandthedurable.InOppenheims realizations, they are trumped by nature and the complexity of forms appearing independently of the artist. I believe that Oppenheims intention was to expose the arbitrariness of received intellectual principles to show that in the human world, despite continued attempts to make ideas or artworks permanent or even immortal, nothing is constant or changeless. Everything is arbitrary, subject to the conventions assumed and reproduced by humans during a certain period. The processual aspect is perceived differently in the work of Walter de Maria. Among his most important achievements are the two works, made in 1974 and 1977respectively,bothtitledLightningField.ThefirstwascreatedinJuly 1974 in northern Arizona and is currently part of Virginia Dwans collection59. LightningFieldcomprised35stainlesssteel18-footlongpoles,set200feet apartfromoneanother,arrangedsoastoformagridoffivebysevenrows. Theartistdescribedthisprojectasapermanentwork60,becauseitfocused onconstantprocessandpermanentchange.Eachtimealightningstruckthe poles,anew,unrepeatableartworkwascreated.Thesitewasalsoofgreat importance;theartistwrotethatthelandisnotthesettingfortheworkbut a part of the work61. It was exactly through combining the effect of lightning and a construction situated in a remote place that the works powerful impact was intensified. Encouragedbytheresultsofthe1974project,theartistcontinuedtoexperi-mentwithlightningandtheprocessualcharacteroftheensuingrealization. Consequently,hedecidedtocreateasimilarworkonamuchlargerscale. Finding an adequate site proved difficult on account of very particular require-ments; the process took over five years. De Maria emphasized that the terrain neededtobeperfectlyflat,isolatedfromtheworldandattractingmuch lightning.Ultimately,theartistchoseaplaininsouth-centralNewMexico, where he could count on maximum atmospheric discharge. The work comprised 400 stainless steel poles arranged in a rectangular grid array. It consisted of 16 pointssetapartby220feetand25pointsatthesamedistance.Allthepoles weredugintotheground,revealing20feetoftheirlengthabove.Theentire workwasexactlyonemilebyonekilometerinsize.Accordingtotheartist, a casual stroll around the project took approximately two hours62. The realiza-tionwasmerelyaconstructionwhichonlyacquireditsfullintensityduring astorm,asaresultofattractinglightning.Inthisway,itvisualizedcertain phenomena existing in nature, which are rarely analyzed. De Maria wrote that 59 P. Selz, Theories and Documents in Contemporary Art, Los Angeles 1996, p. 528. 60 W. de Maria, The Lightning Field (1970). Kastner and Wallis, p. 232. 61 Ibid. 62 Cf. P. Selz, pp. 527-529. 262 Paulina Sztabiska hemanagedtodemonstratehismainassumption,i.e.thattheinvisibleis real63. Given the unusual character of Lightning Field, only individuals were allowed to enter the terrain, so as not to disrupt the harmony of the reception. Because photographicdocumentationconstitutedaveryimportantelementinthe artists work, he took the photographs himself or arranged for carefully chosen photographerstotakethem,subsequentlyauthorizingeachdocument.De Maria radically limited viewers access to the work, emphasizing that excessive humandensityrobstheworkofitsuniquecharacter.Heclaimedthatisola-tion is the essence of Land Art64. Significantly, no single photograph or group of photographs has managed to fully capture the character of Lightning Field65.Inthiswork,thegeometricsimplicityoftheconstructionwasenhancedand extendedbylightning,whichparticipatedinthecreationofthework.How-ever, the crucial aspect is its processual character. The metal construction does notconstitutethework;rather,itisamereskeletonorbasisunderlyingapotentialrealization.Furthermore,itisimpossibletodeterminewhenthe workisfinished.Itisdifficulttosaywhethersuchamomentexistsatall, because each lightning strike engenders a different work. The resulting varied imagesareradicallyephemeralandmutable.Itsgeometryiscombinedwith theinstabilityoftheatmosphericconditions,whichmeansthatitundergoes changes itself. It is no longer something permanent, a symbol of durability; on the contrary, it becomes a means for the transient and the ephemeral to appear. Thus, a process is provoked. The space is enriched, only to return after a while to its primary, ascetic state. TheconceptualandephemeralnatureofmanyworksclassifiedasLandArt means that, frequently, they can only be experienced in the form of documenta-tion.Asaresult,accordingtoDempsey,thereisagrowingtendencytopre-servethesespecialsitesandfacilitateaccesstothem66.This,however, provokes the question: is such behavior in keeping with the idea of Land Art, theuniquecharacterofwhichconsistsintheisolationoftheworksfromthe cityandwideaudiencesinfavorofcommuningwithnatureinitspristine state?Additionally,photographicdocumentationobliteratesthespatial relationsandthecontextinwhichtheworksfunction,asdoesorganizing grouptourstothesite.Iftheyareincorporatedintothetouristinfrastructure, 63 Ibid., p. 530. 64 Ibid. 65 Cf. ibid. 66A.Dempsey,Styles,schoolsandmovementsanEncyclopedicGuidetoModernArt, London 2002, p. 262. SPACES OF FREEDOM: THE ROLE OF GEOMETRY IN LAND ART263 they will lose their unique character and their independence, achieved through their functioning in a free and open space. Additionally, the natural processes ofdecomposition,foreseenbytheartists,willbedisrupted.Ontheonehand, heightened viewer presence will accelerate the destruction of the work; on the other,however,allattemptsatconservationwillstopthenaturalprocesses which are an integral element of the artistic idea. OneofthecentralproblemsaddressedbyLandArtisthecollisionofthe naturalandorganicwithgeometricelementscreatedbytheartists.The Euclideanshapesacquirenewmeanings,havingtodowithentropy,de-composition,transienceandprocessuality.AccordingtoKrauss,already quoted above, we are dealing with geometry transcending its own limitations, goingbeyonditstraditionallyascribedfeaturesandfunctions.Itisasingular geometrybeyondgeometry,orevengeometrytoendallgeometry67. TheseartistsdemonstratethattheEuclideanformsarenotnecessarily connected with the absolute and can also express that which is individual and fleeting.Consequently,geometryrevealsitsdescriptivepowers;itcanbe associatedwithnarration(SmithsonsSpiralJetty),process(Oppenheims actions),recordsoftransienceandmovement(Long),andpredominantlythe unlimited freedom of space, time,matter and artistic expression, without pro-vokingdisputes.Throughtheirmoveintodesolate,desertedandinaccessible spaces, coupled with their application of the Euclidean shapes to art, the Land Artistsinvitetherecipienttoperceiveentirelydifferent,newspacesof freedom. Translated by Krzysztof Majer PRZESTRZENIE WOLNOCI ROLA GEOMETRII W LAND ARCIE (streszczenie) WsztuceXXwiekuproblemprzestrzeniodgrywaistotnrol.Sposbjejpojmowaniaewo-luowa przechodzc od abstrakcyjnej przestrzeni modernistycznej po realne otoczenie, w ktrym funkcjonuje dzieo, artysta i odbiorca. W artykule tym autork interesuje zagadnienie przestrzeni pojmowanej w kategoriach wolnoci, rozumianej przez artystw zwizanych z Land artem bar-dzoszeroko,zarwnojakowolnocisztuki,jaktewyzwoleniaczowieka.Twrcyzajmujcy sisztukziemizwracaliuwag,efunkcjonowaniedziewgaleriachniebyopowizane zyciemspoecznym,zamieniajcsiwlaboratoriumnowychformiprojektw.Dlategoza-czli dy do odwrcenia relacji midzy waciwym i niewaciwym rodowiskiem sztuki, poszukujc miejsc nieobcionych kulturowymi znaczeniami i poszerzajc w ten sposb zasig wystpowania sztuki. Szczeglnie chtnie tworzyli oni na pustyniach i w miejscach odludnych, trudno dostpnych, odseparowanych z powodu duej odlegoci lub braku moliwoci dojazdu. 67 R. Krauss, Richard Serra, p. 26. 264 Paulina Sztabiska Zwaszcza gry, prerie i pustynie poudniowo-wschodniej Ameryki fascynoway ich ze wzgldu narozlegoiogromniemalcakowicielubcakiempustegoterenu.Przestrzetadawaapo-czucienieograniczonejwolnociiswobody.Jednoczenie,jakzauwaaautorka,artycizwi-zani ze sztuk ziemi wyzwolili formy geometryczne ze stereotypw i silnego naznaczenia kultu-rowego.WdzieachLandartuformygeometrycznenabierajnowych,wczeniejnieuwzgld-nianych znacze. Odnosz si do zagadnie entropii, rozpadu, przemijania, upywu czasu i pro-cesualnoci. Artyci pokazuj, e ksztaty euklidesowe nie musz by nonikami treci oglnych (cozakadaliMalewicziMondrian,aponichwieluinnychartystw),leczmogczysiz tym, co jednostkowe, ulotne. Okazuje si, e geometria moe mie charakter opisujcy, moe byzwizanaznarracyjnoci(SpiralJettyRobertaSmithsona),procesem(dziaaniaDennisa Oppenheima),zapisemprzemijaniaiprzemieszczaniasi(RichardLong),aprzedewszystkim nieograniczon wolnoci przestrzeni, czasu, materii, wypowiedzi artystycznej.