inbetween pt 1_SITE

Thinking about the definition of "site” architecturally I instinctively reach towards the space or land that the design intervention will consider or integrate. This explication of the site is severely challenged in the philosophy and the idea of a “non-site” in the early installations and works of the early land artists. In the article, “The Site as Project: Lessons from Land Art and Conceptual Art”, author Martin Hague explores the constructs of site within modern architecture and land art. He argues for a closer association between site and process and calls for a new thinking of the site in architecture.

The ideas of  “non-sites” and displacement are central to the understanding of site and process in many fundamental land art works, such as Richard Longs walks and the correlating maps he displayed. Hague suggests this physical connection to the landscape could be useful for the architect in understanding the “site”. “Long’s trajectories through the landscape also suggest new ways in which we might reconsider our own initial visits to a new site: for the architect such trajectories or visits typically include careful measurements of the land, taking account of its critical features, and the like. What becomes possible are site investigations that might reveal the qualities of a site that would otherwise remain latent with the use of conventional surveying techniques”.

During my landscape architecture studio this summer, before any design charrete or project, we would conduct a very thorough site analysis taking into account everything from neighborhood character to soil conditions. Many factors I would have not taken into consideration for a successful survey or sight analysis were carefully researched and dissected. This lent a holistic understanding of the embedment of the site in its environment.

Matta-Clark explores the idea of a previously constructed environments as the site for his projects, in particular “Fake Estates”, which brought to question neglected spaces in the urban environment. Making use of a building or previously constructed fragments, as Matta-Clark did, becomes an act of displacement and exploration of time processes.

Fake Estates

To reconceive site and project, we have to look to the site as a process or as Hague states, “a repository that is forever in the process of change. The importance of designing with the past and present in mind through historical events and natural processes  has become increasingly important in many  urban design projects. Understanding time as part of the site and process and removing the physicality of the space allows for more comprehensive design work. 

Two recent landscape architecture projects that are designed to evolve over time, in space and experience are Fresh Kills and the High Line.  Both boldly recognizing the importance of “site cultivation”, and as Keith Frampton suggests, “uncover dormant narratives and strategies”.

Fresh Kills

High Line

To be cont.

“a thing is a hole in a thing it is not.” Carl Andre

 Susan Boettger opens her survey of the late 19th c.
earthworks art movement, fittingly titled Earthworks, with Claes Oldenburg's piece the Hole.  Oldenburg best known as a progressive leader in the pop art movement organized an excavation, adhering to the dimensions of a human grave, in Central Park on  October 1, 1967. Entitled Placid Civic Monument, but referred to as the Hole or Burial Monument by Oldenburg in his notes, was part of an exhibition sponsored by the NYC Administration of Recreation and Cultural Affairs.

Oldenburg termed his recession in the ground of Central Park as an "invisible monument". The negative space created by the removal of topsoil is similar to Carl Andre's exploration of "holes" in his 1967 show at the Dwan Gallery. Boettger notes that while Oldenburg was not an earthworks artist, the element of "nonvisisbility,transience or geographical remoteness is another aspect aligned to practices fundamental to Earthworks".

3 weeks prior to the "excavation" similar ideas were  explored in the exhibition 19:45-21:55 in Germany. 19:45-21:55  reference a twenty four  hour time period  was arranged by Paul Manez a curator and art director. 19/21 was an exhibition of "anti form" and included work from the artists Jan Dibbets,Richard Long, Barry Flanagan and John Johnson.  The latter three sending boxes of organic materials with a list of instructions(some including additional collecting of materials), "in this way binding the gallery's interior to a reference of the natural environment".

The parallels between the the American and European earth works and post minimalism were unknown in the late sixties US. Boetteger connects the two using the Oldenburg's "Hole" because it corresponds to the early use of natural materials in art works in the US. and abroad.

These early earthworks were a response to a new understanding and awareness of the ecological environment as well the the socio-politcal unrest that characterized the Sixties. The idea of the work evolving due to natural forces or human interaction was key.

The "Hole" was interpreted and referenced to  as a "grave for dead art", "a wounded virgin"  and "and a trench", among many others. But what existed to the public was open grave.

As stated Oldenburg:

"By not burying a thing the dirt enters into the concept, and little enough separates the dirt inside the excavation from that outside..so that the whole park and its connections, in turn enter into it. Which meant that my event is merely the focus for me of what is sense, or in the corner of a larger field.."

Chapter 1 Response

ten minute birthday

celebrating the birth of the blog, welcome.

I am undertaking an independent study this fall on the subjects of land art(also earthworks) and environmental design the histories, intersections and relation to present day. Both,very broad subjects with many definitions and popular understandings. To fully understand this ambiguity and perhaps find for myself the defining terms or moments in each of these histories(or is it simply a single story?) I will start at the "beginning" with the great visionaries,artists,writers of the land art movement, before such a name existed, and explore there ideas and art works. For this research and exploration I will be primarily using the texts

_Earthwork: Art and Landscape of the Sixties by Susan Boetteger

_Land and Environmental Art by Jefferey Kastner and Brian Wallis

(as well as a few more I am patiently waiting for from ILL)

more to come, I will post back later this week the above readings.