Site Specific Art

This art is one of my favorite types of art for many reasons. I think art that is created for a certain location and that must be observed within that spot raises a lot of interesting questions about the function and purpose of art. For instance, i think Andy Goldsworthy's art is incredibly interesting for it is environmental art that changes in the environment. He is famous for making eggs in different specific sites and then filmed how the egg would change during the course of the seasons. In some locations, the eggs fell down and became nothing more then rubble, but in others the eggs thrived and eventually algae grew in them allowing them to become a part of the changing environment. The art is interesting because it shows how things change over time but still remain itself, and in order for one to view the art in all its forms they must visit it multiple times. It is art that cannot be seen once and understood.

Site specific art, according to kwon, also raises important questions as to political statements about art. For instance, site specific art raises certain questions about the museum as a specific site and how some art must be in particular museums to have the same effect. A good example of this is Daniel Buren's sheet which he hung in the guggenheim in New York. The Guggenheim is a tall circular building that is open from the bottom to the top int eh center of the museum. tradtionally, all the art is on the ramps that circulate up the building. However, Buren's sheet was hung from the top of the museum to the bottom in the center, in which it could be viewed from any floor on any side, and in order to observe the whole peice one would have to walk from the bottom to the top. First of all, the peice clearly could not fit in a different museum and was thus made specifically to emphasize the artchitecture of the guggenheim. Secondly, the artwork caused a lot fo commotion for certain artists in the same show did not like that their art could only be seen on one floor where as Buren's peice dominated the museum. Some artists claimed that the sheet blocked their art but the fact of the matter was that since it was in the middle of the museum it did not block anything. thus, when thinking of Kwon, one can see how the art within its certain location raises questions as to the importance of space, the museum, and public art.

The second chapter by Kwon illustrates how certain site-specific art is being relocated which changes the value of the art. It is a contradiction to have site specific art and then move it for technically the art would be destroyed. However, i think that moving it is not necessarily bad, even though it does change the meaning of the art. For me, Goldsworthy eggs cannot be moved, but, to put an egg in a museum and to tell the egg's story would bring recognition to the idea of the artowkr constructed. There are many copies of Duchamp's urinal, and in my opinion it is not only a site specific art but a time specific art created for one particular moment. However, when putting the urinal in museums now, it does not represent the actual and original peice, but merely recognizes the sculptures importance as an artwork. With site specific work, to movie ti changes the work and mkaes it a enw peice, but it can highlight why it is work and why it can be re-made in the museum without destroying it.