Project 2: Place
ANALYSIS

S. Natasha Mercado
ART 308
Lisa Scheer
3/24/14
Analysis Assignment for Site-Specific Art

            Site Specific art was the result of the boom of many art movements including Minimalism, cubism, conceptualism, etc. Some artists make art based on a specific site in mind where the art becomes part of the landscape or architecture itself, letting the art dissolve in creation and absorb the surrounding context. Others create art and place it in a specific context (landscape, building, museums, galleries, etc.) within a public or private setting in order to for the artwork to have a different reaction or influence on the place. Although all interaction between the artwork and the setting or place is highly influenced by the artist’s intentions, the context within that specific place is bound to implement its own meaning onto that specific artwork and thereon impact how the viewer perceives that piece.

            Since site-specific art involves the viewer as they are present on this “site”. Site specific art then becomes audience relevant. A good way to think about the relationship of art with its specific site is by looking at the process making of the art and what the artist had in mind while making it. In other words, did the setting come before or after the piece? Or did they happen altogether? Is the artwork site specific or site responsive? Site response in art, Gillian Mclover writes, occurs when “the artist is engaged in an investigation of the sites as part of the process in making the work” . The art will take into consideration different contextual aspects such as historical, global or environmental aspects surrounding the site which affects how the artwork is made “in terms of form, materials, concept etc.” (Mclver). Site responsive art is created in order to work with the specific art, to either enhance it or change it in some way where meaning is added whereas other site specific art is made solely to fit a certain context where the context of that place controls the artwork. A good example is the institutionalized museum. The museum confines the art into giving it a place and gives it the name of “art”, something precious meant to be preserved forever. Many artists like this setting, or the gallery-type setting, in order to showcase their work. Other artists, like Maya Lin, work with the actual landscape (the public space) or architectural space in a lyrical form in order to create site-responsive art.

            Maya Lin famously known for her Vietnam Veterans Memorial design in Washington D.C. uses the written historical context as well as the physical context of a specific site and its surroundings in order to create an art piece. Her Vietnam Veterans Memorial is made out of two granite walls placed bellow grade engraved with names of the men and women that fought and died in the Vietnam War . This art work is site responsive because not only does it allow the viewer to have a personal experience by sheltering them with the dark walls as they head down into the depths of the earth, as if to head down to this heavy and dark place with the rest of the veterans, but also because of her repetitive lyrical process making. Maya Lin physically went into the landscape where she was to build in her work and made sketches of the place and noted its surroundings. She then thought of and researched on the historical and political context of that landscape and surrounding architecture and tried to figure out how they were all related and the type of art work that would best fit in that specific context. Lin created the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in order to enhance the meaning within its surroundings such as alongside the Lincoln Monument and the Washington memorial, tying it to the physical and historical context of that site. Another artist that created different work but also enhanced the context of a specific site was Gordon Matta-Clark.

            Matta-Clark, an architect and sculpture, was known best for his “building cuts” and for creating art out of demolished buildings. He worked within the aspect of deconstruction and anarchitecture which meant to create or construct out of the deconstructed or demolished architecture. In his “Conical Intersect” Paris, France 1975, Matta-Clark studied the environment and surroundings of the building as well as the architecture itself before cutting away a circle into the wall visible to all who passed by. His slow and repetitive process and the studying of the physical context of the architectural building lead him to create a work that was related to the architecture and its surroundings but also to the context of the building by making it viewer interactive. This piece (and most of his work) challenged how we perceive the construction of our world and its realities within it by “reverting the process of our lineal way of thinking” . What separate site-specific art from site responsive art are the intentions behind the artists and their work.

            Matta-Clark, for example, studied the architectural background of the “Conical Intersect” site and its surroundings before adding context to it and making the audience question it. Maya Lin, similarly, studied the historical and political aspects of the surroundings of the site for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial as well as the physical landscape of her work. Both works are interactive pieces where the viewer can have a personal connection with the work as well as with its surroundings because these types of site responsive works only add to the physical and conceptual context of the sites. Work that is designed for sites such as museums or galleries tends to be more site-specific while working with the private place. Artwork that is specifically made to fit these places naturally has a greater interaction with the context of the place such as the gallery. The gallery, part of the art world, gives the meaning of art to the physical work and contains it while the work exhibited within that space only enhances the contextual meaning of the institutionalized gallery.

Works Cited

Mclver, Gillian. “ART/SITE/CONTEXT”. SiteSpecificArt. 2004. Web. Accessed March 25, 2014.

Owens, Gwendolyn. “Deconstructing Reality: Gordon Matt-Clark”. Dpr-barcelona: beyond books between art, science and architecture. January 26, 2012. Web. Accessed March 24, 2014.

 “Vietnam Veterans Memorial: Washington, DC. 1982”. Memorials. Maya Lin Studio. Web. Accessed March 24, 2014.