Sculpture Studio Spring 2010

Project 3: Site, Place, and Installation
ANALYSIS

After having looked at and studied the text-based, site work of Jenny Holzer, and having looked the “site” work/installations of Bill Viola, I believe that site-based artworks can become “site based” in one of two ways. On one hand, there is work like Holzer’s Truisms and projections, where the meaning of the work is based on how well it interacts and plays off of its surroundings. Holzer’s text works would not be as powerful if they did not relate or critique the social setting around it. For example, her Truism, “Raise boys and girls the same way,” would be much less powerful if it was just displayed in a gallery –where that is no real social connections – as opposed to being show on a scoreboard at a baseball park, where the work immediately brings up and discusses the issue of gender and raising children, at least in relation to American sports culture.
     So in the case of artists and work like Holzer’s the site is what charges the work with meaning. If the work seems out of place or completely unrelated to the environment – whatever that may be – then the piece and the idea behind it will be unsuccessful. The site is what enables the artist to present this “idea” or “thought” that is based off of the content of the site itself. So in this type of site work, the relationship between site and the work is circular in that the site gives the artist an idea, which develops into the work that is presented within the context of that specific site or place.

     On the other side of the site and place spectrum is the work that is made by artists such as Bill Viola, Iyla Kabakov and Louise Bourgeouis. In the case of these artists, the “site” in their work is the presentation or installation that the viewer experiences. The artist has created an environment that fully encapsulates and relates to the subject with which they are working; this can be seen in Kabakov’s The Man Who Flew into Space from his Apartment or Viola’s installations The Sleep of Reason or Room for St. John of the Cross. The site is not just a place for the work to exist in and relate to, but the site is the work. However, it is interesting to note that in this form of dealing with the issue of site and place, since the “work” and its “site” are one, they tend to exist outside the context of the “real world.” Of course these pieces contain connections to real world events, people and places, but the viewer must enter into a realm solely created and designed by the artist. The site becomes a full manifestation of the artist’s idea or concept and not a “response” or addition to an already existing place or ideal.