JULY 1 SITE UNSEEN
Art installations inside an out have received praise as well as indifference over the years. Yet it seems the “unexpected” site installation still continues to delight the passerby when all the elements align. When you think about it, we all were artists in our own right when we first rolled our large snowball for the base of a snowman for all to view as they drove by our front lawns. Temporary like a snowman, most site installations are intended to be just that, temporary. A passing attention getter that has one stop and think about the intent behind the artist’s work and their profound statement or cause if any.
Many blog posts ago, I blogged on crochet “bombs” and how weavers alike wove their magic in the night on everything from subway poles to a series of exterior stairs in bright textures yet not altering the original sign, pole or stair. It seems however, when we add color or alter the actual landscapes that objection ensues, in that, the earth was tampered with in some way, upsetting the natural balance of things. Less so when the tampering is left in its natural coloration I have noted. Accepted more over on buildings as commissioned murals or even tagged graffiti but for some it seems to cross a line when our shared environment is changed permanently or beyond recognition, the art is viewed more as vandalism.
In the following images, the installations are for the most part temporary. In the site installation and instance of “Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red” by ceramic artist Paul Cummins not only was color of the main site installation impactful but used in vast repetition for many brought on strong emotion. Juxtapose the imagery with the innocence of a poppy and Cummins’ work was very successful. Yet, what happens when a simple expression of love, a lock placed on a bridge is then repeated to the extreme causing the potential destruction of a structure? Interesting to note, did the build up and imagery of the thousands of locks ever become a ‘formal’ site installation or not since it was never established as one by an artist at onset of the first lock placed? Can a non intended site become an art site installation over time? I would imagine now that the locks and sections of fence they cling to could very easily find themselves in a gallery alongside other fence sections removed by the city of Paris last month. Tourism at its gallery best? perhaps or perhaps an art installation once based on a site..."Lock Bridge".
Art is forever “to each his own interpretation” yet on the most basic level one has to ask themselves do they delight in finding a set of perfectly balanced rocks stacked on the sand in front of them during a walk along the beach or does one feel upset by its forced balance and not of their creative doing? Regardless… in the end, the ocean’s waves will reclaim even the greatest sand or rock sculpture commanded by the greatest artists of all…Mother Nature.
It is all temporary so enjoy the art while it lasts or you may just miss it.
Below, we have come a long way from snowmen.
Today's' ice and snow sculptures take into account user experience.
Site installations while frozen are only temporary till the temperature rises.
January 2015, Christian Strömqvist and Karl-Johan Ekeroth of PinPin Studio built for the winter festival in Kiruna, Sweden.
http://www.junk-culture.com/search/label/design#sthash.0oVzQfP6.dpuf
Many blog posts ago, I blogged on crochet “bombs” and how weavers alike wove their magic in the night on everything from subway poles to a series of exterior stairs in bright textures yet not altering the original sign, pole or stair. It seems however, when we add color or alter the actual landscapes that objection ensues, in that, the earth was tampered with in some way, upsetting the natural balance of things. Less so when the tampering is left in its natural coloration I have noted. Accepted more over on buildings as commissioned murals or even tagged graffiti but for some it seems to cross a line when our shared environment is changed permanently or beyond recognition, the art is viewed more as vandalism.
In the following images, the installations are for the most part temporary. In the site installation and instance of “Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red” by ceramic artist Paul Cummins not only was color of the main site installation impactful but used in vast repetition for many brought on strong emotion. Juxtapose the imagery with the innocence of a poppy and Cummins’ work was very successful. Yet, what happens when a simple expression of love, a lock placed on a bridge is then repeated to the extreme causing the potential destruction of a structure? Interesting to note, did the build up and imagery of the thousands of locks ever become a ‘formal’ site installation or not since it was never established as one by an artist at onset of the first lock placed? Can a non intended site become an art site installation over time? I would imagine now that the locks and sections of fence they cling to could very easily find themselves in a gallery alongside other fence sections removed by the city of Paris last month. Tourism at its gallery best? perhaps or perhaps an art installation once based on a site..."Lock Bridge".
Art is forever “to each his own interpretation” yet on the most basic level one has to ask themselves do they delight in finding a set of perfectly balanced rocks stacked on the sand in front of them during a walk along the beach or does one feel upset by its forced balance and not of their creative doing? Regardless… in the end, the ocean’s waves will reclaim even the greatest sand or rock sculpture commanded by the greatest artists of all…Mother Nature.
It is all temporary so enjoy the art while it lasts or you may just miss it.
Below, we have come a long way from snowmen.
Today's' ice and snow sculptures take into account user experience.
Site installations while frozen are only temporary till the temperature rises.
January 2015, Christian Strömqvist and Karl-Johan Ekeroth of PinPin Studio built for the winter festival in Kiruna, Sweden.
http://www.junk-culture.com/search/label/design#sthash.0oVzQfP6.dpuf
From land to sea, It was "Spiral Jetty" that really put site installation on the map literally in 1970, Utah.
Smithson's works dealt with landscape, alteration and awe.
http://www.robertsmithson.com/
Smithson's works dealt with landscape, alteration and awe.
http://www.robertsmithson.com/
In some instances an artist may work with an organization or intent to promote a cause in the case of "Paperbridge" the work was "Commissioned by Lakes Culture as part of its Lakes Ignite 2015 programme, "Paperbridge", is a site-specific landscape installation made of 22,000 sheets of red paper by environmental artist Steve Messam. Located over a stream in the Lake District of England, the bridge was built without glue, bolts or any other fixings and instead relies on authentic architectural principles used in the dry-stone walls and the original packhorse bridges that dot the Lake District to hold it up. The temporary structure, which was created using paper specially made by James Cropper, will be open to the public for 10 days from 8 May and all the paper used will then be returned to the paper mill for recycling."
http://www.junk-culture.com/search/label/design#sthash.0oVzQfP6.dpuf
http://www.junk-culture.com/search/label/design#sthash.0oVzQfP6.dpuf
Below and on a much grander scale..."Over The River" is a temporary work of art by the artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude. Christo plans to suspend 5.9 miles of silvery, luminous fabric panels high above the Arkansas River along a 42-mile stretch of the river between Salida and Cañon City in south-central Colorado. Due to pending litigation, Christo has temporarily postponed the Over The River installation schedule and will identify the exhibition date when the legal process is successfully resolved. AllOver The River permits and approvals are based on comprehensive analysis that has withstood legal scrutiny every step of the way. Over The River will be exhibited for two consecutive weeks during a future August. Project activities not related to physical installation, such as bighorn sheep habitat enhancements, are ongoing."
This work proposed is on a massive scale and for may does affect the environment it aims to overlay.
Perhaps two of many reasons it has been delayed.
The purpose of their art, they contend, is simply to create works of art for joy and beauty and to create new ways of seeing familiar landscapes.
http://www.overtheriverinfo.com/
http://christojeanneclaude.net/mobile/projects?p=over-the-river#.VZRajflVhBc
On a much smaller scale and successfully installed and viewed by many, below, "Architects Marion Moustey and Alexandre Arcens recently created a temporary outdoor art installation for the 2014 edition of the Festival of Lively Architecture at La Grande Motte in France. Titled "Onde Sensuelle", the installation is comprised of dozens of white paper lanterns suspended across two docks facing the sea. “Sensual Wave plays with water, without ever touching it, brushes it, goes away from it,” says Moustey. “As a magical moment, the ephemeral character of the installation evokes a wave that we can’t hold back.”
http://www.junk-culture.com/2014/08/sensual-wave-outdoor-art-installation.html#sthash.kjheYd6o.dpuf
http://www.junk-culture.com/2014/08/sensual-wave-outdoor-art-installation.html#sthash.kjheYd6o.dpuf
It seems water, fluidity and outdoors are a recipe for success when it comes to creativity applied to site installations.
Below the wave of 5,000 bicycle bells temporarily set in Netherlands moss create an undulating flow of harmonious sound when the wind picks up.
http://inhabitat.com/sound-architecture-iv-art-installation-made-from-5000-bicycle-bells-sings-with-the-wind-in-the-netherlands/
Below the wave of 5,000 bicycle bells temporarily set in Netherlands moss create an undulating flow of harmonious sound when the wind picks up.
http://inhabitat.com/sound-architecture-iv-art-installation-made-from-5000-bicycle-bells-sings-with-the-wind-in-the-netherlands/
Below, undulating with poppies rather than bells and vast in scale was the site installation by Cummins.
At the beginning of August last year, a major art installation began to take shape on and around one of London’s most historic landmarks – the Tower of London. Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red by ceramic artist Paul Cummins dominated the whole area. The longest-serving yeoman warder at the tower placed the first ceramic poppy in the summer followed by hundreds of thousands of others.
On November 11th, 2014, Armistice Day, there were 888,246.
Each one represented a British or Commonwealth soldier killed during the First World War.
http://paulcumminsceramics.com/
http://5thandstate.blogspot.com/2014/11/remembrance.html
At the beginning of August last year, a major art installation began to take shape on and around one of London’s most historic landmarks – the Tower of London. Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red by ceramic artist Paul Cummins dominated the whole area. The longest-serving yeoman warder at the tower placed the first ceramic poppy in the summer followed by hundreds of thousands of others.
On November 11th, 2014, Armistice Day, there were 888,246.
Each one represented a British or Commonwealth soldier killed during the First World War.
http://paulcumminsceramics.com/
http://5thandstate.blogspot.com/2014/11/remembrance.html
On a more fun scale for simply fun sake but just as meandering and undulating is the the annual Serpentine
Pavilion installation which has been unveiled in London.
July 2015, the Serpentine Galleries celebrates the 15th anniversary of the world-renowned Pavilion commission.
http://www.serpentinegalleries.org/exhibitions-events/serpentine-pavilion-2015
July 2015, the Serpentine Galleries celebrates the 15th anniversary of the world-renowned Pavilion commission.
http://www.serpentinegalleries.org/exhibitions-events/serpentine-pavilion-2015
While I have pointed out "exterior" art installation sites, the interior is often coveted as well especially if an abandoned space, case in point...
http://design-milk.com/yarn-installation-allows-experience-music-physically/synth-series-string-toki-1/
http://design-milk.com/yarn-installation-allows-experience-music-physically/synth-series-string-toki-1/
Below, the "Lock Bridge" or at least sans locks railing as of June 2015.
Now the Pont des Arts Bridge no longer has suspended hearts attached to locks
with keys cast down river, the rail sections have been cut away and cast aside in a temporary warehouse with the worn locks hopefully not lost forever. Hmm? temporary space? sounds like a site installation in the making to me.
Padlock-proof Plexiglas panels replaced the Pont des Arts bridge's metal grills.
C'est la Vie!
http://gizmodo.com/tag/france
Now the Pont des Arts Bridge no longer has suspended hearts attached to locks
with keys cast down river, the rail sections have been cut away and cast aside in a temporary warehouse with the worn locks hopefully not lost forever. Hmm? temporary space? sounds like a site installation in the making to me.
Padlock-proof Plexiglas panels replaced the Pont des Arts bridge's metal grills.
C'est la Vie!
http://gizmodo.com/tag/france
...and just for fun, if you like coming upon stacked rocks on the beach...stack your own with these new furnishings. Go for it!
http://design-milk.com/nature-inspired-outdoor-seating-kreoo/
http://design-milk.com/nature-inspired-outdoor-seating-kreoo/