Reading #2 -- Site Specific
28 March 2022
Q1. Both site specific cart and art interventions are associated with topics of social and environmental concerns. For example, a fair number of classified site-specific art has to do with the environment, similarly art interventions attempt to involve itself with economic and political situations.
Q2.A
Hayat Nazar, Lady Liberty of Lebanon, 2020
This work of art would be classified as both site specific but maybe more so as art intervention. The sculpture can more than likely be moved, however Im sure Nazer would want it to stay where she placed it and at the very least in Lebanon. The sculpture is not only embodying the strength of Lebanon after the explosion, but it is made from destroyed materials from the blast as well as materials given from residents of the country. Considering these facts, the sculpture is intervening into the situation while also being created for a specific site from significant material. I don’t necessarily see this as an intervention, though maybe it is considered invasive to the environment, and its purpose is to call attention to the landscape, I see it less as an art intervention.
Walter de Maria, The Lightning Strike, 1977.
This work is site specific. The poles, and the work as a whole, is not mean to be moved, especially not to a gallery space. De Maria and his partner spent years looking for the perfect place to put these. The steel rods are set in concrete feet into the ground so that they may withstand he wind and elements. The poles are calling for awareness of the landscape and its surroundings.
Q2.B
Lady Liberty of Lebanon: This work of art is not the kind that is just left up to interpretation. There is a clear and definite meaning to the work. However, my own meaning is this: even broken things are not really broken. Even from the broken something can be made. Im sure this is a powerful symbol for the people of Lebanon.
The Lightning Field: The poles are placed in a very remote place in New Mexico, and the work is simple. The work is attempting to bring awareness to the landscape and its surroundings. The poles are simple as to not obscure the already beautiful landscape. At the same time, I think it is making the landscape uglier by “industrializing” it. At the same time, I think had this work not been there, no now would go to experience it. Maybe that’s also why the name is what it is. People would assume at first hear that the work is attracts lightning and would be an exciting experience, yet from what Ive read people rarely see lightning strike it. Maybe this work is a middle grown for enviornmental art activism and selfish? art.
Q3. Well, I think the most important characteristic of successful signs is that it is understandable, regardless of language or culture barrier. For example, color is not the same in all cultures; some colors mean different things to different people, and even shapes have different connotations.
Q4. Maybe this isn’t exactly what you want as an example, but I think of the San Jose Sharks mural behind the Whole Foods on The Alameda. It is located a block away from the SAP Center, which is the home of the SJ Sharks The large and beautiful mural would not make as much sense on a different street, and definitely not in another city.
