Site Specific Art
Space is always part of an artwork - sometimes in multiples ways. No other form of art demonstrates this more than site-specific art. Site-specific works are created with their surroundings as their canvas. For many artists, space and how to transform it, is the artwork itself. The use of space and the way it is transformed play a role in conveying a creative message. The location of a given piece of site-specific art is a part of the work itself. Remove it from it's intended place and the artwork loses its meaning.
Richard Serra famously said of his work Tilted Arc (1981), "To remove the work is to destroy the work." Different contexts can change the experience of an artwork, so thinking about place in relation to a piece of work can alter it's interpretation.
One thing that Serra might have not considered is what are the public's notions of how a space should function. When creating work in public spaces, a critical component is how people understand the space. While site-specific artists generally think about the space and its use, there needs to be at least some consideration about who the art is really for.
Sometimes artists can get away with focusing more on the space and less on the public's perception of space with what Martha Buskirk calls "Post Studio Production" work. A kind of practice where the work is not quite site specific but needs to be in a specific space to be executed. This creates a kind of site specificity where a piece can be shown again, needs to be re-fabricated.
The British sculptor Anish Kapoor creates such kinds of work. Through his use of space, filling and transforming it to create an immersive experience with works such as “Memory,” (2008) pictured below at the Guggenheim Museum.
The site specificity of works, the creation of an artwork for a particular space, affects and changes its message.
One thing that Serra might have not considered is what are the public's notions of how a space should function. When creating work in public spaces, a critical component is how people understand the space. While site-specific artists generally think about the space and its use, there needs to be at least some consideration about who the art is really for.
Sometimes artists can get away with focusing more on the space and less on the public's perception of space with what Martha Buskirk calls "Post Studio Production" work. A kind of practice where the work is not quite site specific but needs to be in a specific space to be executed. This creates a kind of site specificity where a piece can be shown again, needs to be re-fabricated.
The British sculptor Anish Kapoor creates such kinds of work. Through his use of space, filling and transforming it to create an immersive experience with works such as “Memory,” (2008) pictured below at the Guggenheim Museum.
The site specificity of works, the creation of an artwork for a particular space, affects and changes its message.
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