Environment Art
SITE-SPECIFIC-ART
SITE-SPECIFIC-ART
ART TERMS
Definition Site-specific art is artwork created to exist in a certain place. Typically, the artist takes the location into account while planning and creating the artwork.
Outdoor site-specific artworks often include landscaping combined with permanently sited sculptural elements (the movement is linked with Environmental art). Site Specific Art, which is sometimes referred to as Environment Art, pertains to a modern art form designed to exist only in a certain location. The artists behind these contemporary art masterpieces always consider the location in which their modern art work will be installed, including but not limited to its physical elements such as length, depth, height, weight, shape, temperature, and walls. Aside from this movement’s applications in the visual arts, the concept of Site Specific Dance also exists.
The term Site Specific Art was promoted and refined by Robert Irwin, a modern art designer from California. However, it was first used by young sculptors namely Athena Tacha, Dennis Oppenheim, and Patricia Johanson. The concept was officially declared as a contemporary art movement by architectural critic Catherine Howett in 1977.1
The international prominence of Site Specific Art started in 1960. That was the time when artists started making modern art works under the movement right from the walls and gardens of famous museums and galleries. However, some artists move out to create their contemporary art work in landscapes and specific outdoor locations. along certain pathways so that the terrain itself cannot be permanently altered.2As a site-specific work of art is designed for a specific location, if removed from that location it loses all or a substantial part of its meaning. The term site-specific is often used in relation to installation art, as in site-specific installation; and land art is site-specific almost by definitionhas to walk through in order to engage fully with the work of art. Some installations, however, are designed simply to be walked around and contemplated, or are so fragile that they can only be viewed from a doorway, or one end of a room. What makes installation art different from sculpture or other traditional art forms is that it is a complete unified experience, rather than a display of separate, individual artworks. The focus on how the viewer experiences the work and the desire to provide an intense experience for them is a dominant theme in installation art. As artist Ilya Kabakov said: The main actor in the total installation, the main centre toward which everything is addressed, for which everything is intended, is the viewer.
Does this text contain inaccurate inform I just simply filled the whole gallery up … When you opened the door you found yourself in the midst of an entire environment … The materials were varied: sheets of plastic, crumpled up cellophane, tangles of Scotch tape, sections of slashed and daubed enamel and pieces of coloured cloth … five tape machines spread around the space played electronic sounds which I had composed.
From the 1960s the creation of installations has become a major strand in modern art. This was increasingly the case from the early 1990s when the ‘crash’ of the art market in the late 1980s led to a reawakening of interest in conceptual art (art focused on ideas rather than objects). Miscellaneous materials (mixed media), light and sound have remained fundamental to installation art.
Does this text contain inaccurate information or language In conceptual art the idea or concept is the most important aspect of the work. When an artist uses a conceptual form of art, it means that all of the planning and decisions are made beforehand and the execution is a perfunctory affair.
LeWitt, ‘Paragraphs on Conceptual Art’, Artforum Vol.5, no. 10, Summer 1967, pp. 79-83
conceptual artworksConceptual art can be – and can look like – almost anything. This is because, unlike a painter or sculptor who will think about how best they can express their idea using paint or sculptural materials and techniques, a conceptual artist uses whatever materials and whatever form is most appropriate to putting their idea across – this could be anything from a performance to a written description. Although there is no one style or form used by conceptual artists, from the late 1960s certain trends emerged.
Read the captions in the artworks below to find out about some of the main ways conceptual artists explored and expressed their ideas.
ART TERM
CONCEPTUAL ARTConceptual art is art for which the idea (or concept) behind the work is more important than the finished art object. It emerged as an art movement in the 1960s and the term usually refers to art made from the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s.
ART TERM
SITE-SPECIFICThe term site-specific refers to a work of art designed specifically for a particular location and that has an interrelationship with the locationART TERM
CONCEPTUAL ARTConceptual art is art for which the idea (or concept) behind the work is more important than the finished art object. It emerged as an art movement in the 1960s and the term usually refers to art made from the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s.
Joseph Kosuth
Clock (One and Five), English/Latin Version 1965
Tate
© ARS, NY and DACS, London 2021
Although the term ‘concept art’ had been used in the early 1960s (Henry Flynt of the Fluxus group described his performance pieces as ‘concept art’ in 1961), it was not until the late sixties that conceptual art as a definable movement emerged. Joseph Kosuth’s series Titled (Art as Idea as Idea) 1966–7; the proposal for an exhibition Air Show Air/Conditioning 1966–7 by English artists Terry Atkinson and Michael Baldwin (founder members of the group Art & Language); John Baldessari’s word paintings exhibited in LA in 1968; and important group exhibitions such as that organised by art dealer Seth Siegelaub in New York in 1969, January 1-31: 0 Objects, 0 Painters, 0 Sculptors reflected this growing ideas-based approach to art-making. The term conceptual art was first used to reference this distinct movement in an article written by Sol LeWitt in 1967:
In conceptual art the idea or concept is the most important aspect of the work. When an artist uses a conceptual form of art, it means that all of the planning and decisions are made beforehand and the execution is a perfunctory affair.
LeWitt, ‘Paragraphs on Conceptual Art’, Artforum Vol.5, no. 10, Summer 1967, pp. 79-83
In 1973 a pioneering record of the early years of the movement appeared in the form of a book, Six Years, by the American critic Lucy Lippard. The ‘six years’ were 1966–72. The long subtitle of the book referred to ‘so-called conceptual or information or idea art’.
conceptual artworksConceptual art can be – and can look like – almost anything. This is because, unlike a painter or sculptor who will think about how best they can express their idea using paint or sculptural materials and techniques, a conceptual artist uses whatever materials and whatever form is most appropriate to putting their idea across – this could be anything from a performance to a written description. Although there is no one style or form used by conceptual artists, from the late 1960s certain trends emerged.
Read the captions in the artworks below to find out about some of the main ways conceptual artists explored and expressed their ideas.
See all artworks
When, why and where did conceptual art happen?As a definable movement conceptual art is associated with the 1960s and 1970s, but its origins reach beyond these two decades. Marcel Duchamp is often seen as an important forefather of conceptual art, and his readymade Fountain of 1917 cited as the first conceptual artwork.
The movement that emerged in the mid 1960s and continued until the mid 1970s was international, happening more or less simultaneously across Europe, North America and South America.
Artists associated with the movement attempted to bypass the increasingly commercialised art world by stressing thought processes and methods of production as the value of the work. The art forms they used were often intentionally those that do not produce a finished object such as a sculpture or painting. This meant that their work could not be easily bought and sold and did not need to be viewed in a formal gallery situation.
It was not just the structures of the art world that many conceptual artists questioned, there was often a strong socio-political dimension to much of the work they produced, reflecting wider dissatisfaction with society and government policies. (See for example Joseph Beuys’s social sculpture).
Although as a definable art movement conceptual art is associated with the 1960s, many artists continue to make conceptual art in the twenty-first century (such as Martin Creed and Simon Starling).
Does this text contain inaccurate inf
Outdoor site-specific artworks often include landscaping combined with permanently sited sculptural elements (the movement is linked with Environmental art). Site Specific Art, which is sometimes referred to as Environment Art, pertains to a modern art form designed to exist only in a certain location. The artists behind these contemporary art masterpieces always consider the location in which their modern art work will be installed, including but not limited to its physical elements such as length, depth, height, weight, shape, temperature, and walls. Aside from this movement’s applications in the visual arts, the concept of Site Specific Dance also exists.
The term Site Specific Art was promoted and refined by Robert Irwin, a modern art designer from California. However, it was first used by young sculptors namely Athena Tacha, Dennis Oppenheim, and Patricia Johanson. The concept was officially declared as a contemporary art movement by architectural critic Catherine Howett in 1977.1
The international prominence of Site Specific Art started in 1960. That was the time when artists started making modern art works under the movement right from the walls and gardens of famous museums and galleries. However, some artists move out to create their contemporary art work in landscapes and specific outdoor locations. along certain pathways so that the terrain itself cannot be permanently altered.2As a site-specific work of art is designed for a specific location, if removed from that location it loses all or a substantial part of its meaning. The term site-specific is often used in relation to installation art, as in site-specific installation; and land art is site-specific almost by definitionhas to walk through in order to engage fully with the work of art. Some installations, however, are designed simply to be walked around and contemplated, or are so fragile that they can only be viewed from a doorway, or one end of a room. What makes installation art different from sculpture or other traditional art forms is that it is a complete unified experience, rather than a display of separate, individual artworks. The focus on how the viewer experiences the work and the desire to provide an intense experience for them is a dominant theme in installation art. As artist Ilya Kabakov said: The main actor in the total installation, the main centre toward which everything is addressed, for which everything is intended, is the viewer.
Does this text contain inaccurate inform I just simply filled the whole gallery up … When you opened the door you found yourself in the midst of an entire environment … The materials were varied: sheets of plastic, crumpled up cellophane, tangles of Scotch tape, sections of slashed and daubed enamel and pieces of coloured cloth … five tape machines spread around the space played electronic sounds which I had composed.
From the 1960s the creation of installations has become a major strand in modern art. This was increasingly the case from the early 1990s when the ‘crash’ of the art market in the late 1980s led to a reawakening of interest in conceptual art (art focused on ideas rather than objects). Miscellaneous materials (mixed media), light and sound have remained fundamental to installation art.
Does this text contain inaccurate information or language In conceptual art the idea or concept is the most important aspect of the work. When an artist uses a conceptual form of art, it means that all of the planning and decisions are made beforehand and the execution is a perfunctory affair.
LeWitt, ‘Paragraphs on Conceptual Art’, Artforum Vol.5, no. 10, Summer 1967, pp. 79-83
conceptual artworksConceptual art can be – and can look like – almost anything. This is because, unlike a painter or sculptor who will think about how best they can express their idea using paint or sculptural materials and techniques, a conceptual artist uses whatever materials and whatever form is most appropriate to putting their idea across – this could be anything from a performance to a written description. Although there is no one style or form used by conceptual artists, from the late 1960s certain trends emerged.
Read the captions in the artworks below to find out about some of the main ways conceptual artists explored and expressed their ideas.
ART TERM
CONCEPTUAL ARTConceptual art is art for which the idea (or concept) behind the work is more important than the finished art object. It emerged as an art movement in the 1960s and the term usually refers to art made from the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s.
ART TERM
SITE-SPECIFICThe term site-specific refers to a work of art designed specifically for a particular location and that has an interrelationship with the locationART TERM
CONCEPTUAL ARTConceptual art is art for which the idea (or concept) behind the work is more important than the finished art object. It emerged as an art movement in the 1960s and the term usually refers to art made from the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s.
Joseph Kosuth
Clock (One and Five), English/Latin Version 1965
Tate
© ARS, NY and DACS, London 2021
Although the term ‘concept art’ had been used in the early 1960s (Henry Flynt of the Fluxus group described his performance pieces as ‘concept art’ in 1961), it was not until the late sixties that conceptual art as a definable movement emerged. Joseph Kosuth’s series Titled (Art as Idea as Idea) 1966–7; the proposal for an exhibition Air Show Air/Conditioning 1966–7 by English artists Terry Atkinson and Michael Baldwin (founder members of the group Art & Language); John Baldessari’s word paintings exhibited in LA in 1968; and important group exhibitions such as that organised by art dealer Seth Siegelaub in New York in 1969, January 1-31: 0 Objects, 0 Painters, 0 Sculptors reflected this growing ideas-based approach to art-making. The term conceptual art was first used to reference this distinct movement in an article written by Sol LeWitt in 1967:
In conceptual art the idea or concept is the most important aspect of the work. When an artist uses a conceptual form of art, it means that all of the planning and decisions are made beforehand and the execution is a perfunctory affair.
LeWitt, ‘Paragraphs on Conceptual Art’, Artforum Vol.5, no. 10, Summer 1967, pp. 79-83
In 1973 a pioneering record of the early years of the movement appeared in the form of a book, Six Years, by the American critic Lucy Lippard. The ‘six years’ were 1966–72. The long subtitle of the book referred to ‘so-called conceptual or information or idea art’.
conceptual artworksConceptual art can be – and can look like – almost anything. This is because, unlike a painter or sculptor who will think about how best they can express their idea using paint or sculptural materials and techniques, a conceptual artist uses whatever materials and whatever form is most appropriate to putting their idea across – this could be anything from a performance to a written description. Although there is no one style or form used by conceptual artists, from the late 1960s certain trends emerged.
Read the captions in the artworks below to find out about some of the main ways conceptual artists explored and expressed their ideas.
See all artworks
When, why and where did conceptual art happen?As a definable movement conceptual art is associated with the 1960s and 1970s, but its origins reach beyond these two decades. Marcel Duchamp is often seen as an important forefather of conceptual art, and his readymade Fountain of 1917 cited as the first conceptual artwork.
The movement that emerged in the mid 1960s and continued until the mid 1970s was international, happening more or less simultaneously across Europe, North America and South America.
Artists associated with the movement attempted to bypass the increasingly commercialised art world by stressing thought processes and methods of production as the value of the work. The art forms they used were often intentionally those that do not produce a finished object such as a sculpture or painting. This meant that their work could not be easily bought and sold and did not need to be viewed in a formal gallery situation.
It was not just the structures of the art world that many conceptual artists questioned, there was often a strong socio-political dimension to much of the work they produced, reflecting wider dissatisfaction with society and government policies. (See for example Joseph Beuys’s social sculpture).
Although as a definable art movement conceptual art is associated with the 1960s, many artists continue to make conceptual art in the twenty-first century (such as Martin Creed and Simon Starling).
Does this text contain inaccurate inf
I Would Love to Have You Visit Soon!
Nancy Forrester's Secret Garden
Home of Key West Parrots
518 Elizabeth Street, Key West, Florida 33040
HoursEveryday: Including Holidays 10 am - 3 pm
|
Telephone305-294-0015
|
|