#site specific art

[itscolossal]

A Fleet of Aging Cars Takes a Chromatic Turn in Fred Battle’s Caravan-Sized Color Chart

[cyberenice]

Elpida Hadzi-Vasileva, Fragility (2015)

"Taking over the length, breadth and height of the church the installation, Fragility, utilises Hadzi-Vasileva’s appropriation of unusual materials, in this case pigs caul fat. Exploring the expérience de mort imminente or near death experience, Elpida has focused upon the light seen and discussed by those effected, employing the architecture of Fabrica to route light through animal membrane - juxtaposing experience and materiality."

[iheartvelma]

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A site-specific animated cartoon that uses the literal space to hilarious effect

[random-delulum]

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[ohwhatpiscese]

Statue of Aphrodite of Knidos, 2nd Century, Roman.

Statue of Meleager, 1st-2nd Century, Roman.

Woman in Tub, 1988, Jeff Koons.

All edited to reflect trans bodies for a project proposal assignment, if y'all wanna read the whole essay explaining why i thought this was a good idea it's beneath the 'more':

T4AIC: Trans for Art Institute of Chicago

The purpose of this project is to use gender queer clothing, chizels, and paint to recontextualize classic nude sculptures in the Art Institute of Chicago to reflect transgender bodies. Binary gender systems are tools of white supremacy that establish anything outside of traditional and idealized concepts of man and woman as dangerous or unnatural. They have resulted in a lack of representation in the Art Institute of Chicago of the massive diversity found within gender identities and presentations. Additionally, the vast majority of these sculptures are of naked women, created by men. The T4AIC project would vocalize queerness as inherent to all human populations; whereas binary gender social constraints that reject the existence of queer identities is both intentionally hierarchical and relatively novel in the Ojibwe, Odawa, and Potawatomi land currently known as Chicago, Illinois. It draws inspiration from the Polychrome Reconstruction of the Prima Porta Statue of Augustus created by Vatican Conservators in 2004, and the Guerrilla Girls’ 1989 poster Do Women Have to Be Naked to Get Into the Met. Museum? which speaks to the lack of gender diversity in the art world. The Guerilla Girls reissued the print in 2005 and 2012, attesting to its continued resonance (The Met Museum, par. 1).

(image at bottom of text)

Do Women Have to be Naked to Get Into the Met. Museum?, Guerrilla Girls, 1989, Lithograph, 11 x 28 inches,

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

(image at bottom of text)

Polychrome reconstruction of the Prima Porta statue of Augustus, 2004. Painted plaster cast made after a prototype by P. Liverani, Vatican Museums, Rome, height 2.2 m. Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology, Oxford.

This project would permanently damage multiple ancient artworks within the Art Institute of Chicago. The necessity of that disrespect is due to transgender existence being an inherently transgressive act; it tears a hole in the fabric of a phantasm when people exist outside of two dimensional constraints and are living happy, functional lives. I intend for cisgender viewers to feel threatened. I hope their ideas of societal gender and personal security in their gender feels attacked. My goal is not to give transgender bodies a seat at the metaphorical table-for-two as an awkward third wheel. It is to highlight how gender is used as a political tool, and that a binary gendered system is not inherent. With the recent confirmation of Trump’s second term as president, access to gender affirming care for transgender people is at risk. Evidence of gender affirming health care needs to be cemented in visual culture, in the event that it becomes illegal or otherwise difficult to access in the coming years.

The objects chosen for this project proposal are Greco-Roman marble sculptures and a modern work currently on view in the Contemporary Art section of the Art Institute of Chicago. The Roman Empire was racially, ethnically, and culturally diverse; spanning from the westmost point of Europe to modern day Azerbaijan in the east, from Northern Africa to England. Marble statues were made to imitate life, and fully painted to reflect the people they were modeled after. Bronze statues had gems inlaid in the eyes, and contrasting metals to accent bleeding wounds. In their original form, they were not modest or sleek. To maintain an unbroken connection to white western culture, and increase the collectability of marble statues some were intentionally scrubbed of paint, or the faded original pigment was ignored (Talbot, par. 23). The myth of colorless classical sculpture dates back to the Renaissance, but was solidified by Enlightenment art historian and Archeologist Johann Winckelmann who stated, "The whiter the body is, the more beautiful it is," and, "Color contributes to beauty, but it is not beauty,” (Hucal, par.9). The Enlightenment created our modern concepts of race, so it is unsurprising that Winckelmann preferred his sculptures white. White supremacist and alt-right groups are drawn to classical sculpture as emblematic of white exceptionalism, which is the genesis of the anti-trans rhetoric being seen in conservative political campaigns around the nation.

Flaws within this reasoning include the difference between current western concepts of race and the ones held in Ancient Rome. They would not have considered themselves white, and skin color was one of many physical characterizations considered when categorizing race in the ancient world (Lepinski, Peralta, par. 11). However flawed, the same rationale used to rob ancient works of their visual and cultural context is responsible for the recent attempts at banning transgender women from public women’s bathroom use and the overturning of Roe v. Wade. The connection between the white supremacist agenda of reproductive control and anti-trans ideology is put clearly by Florence Ashley and Blu Buchanon in their 2023 article ‘The Anti-Trans Panic is Rooted in White Supremacist Ideology’:

Transgender people pose a grave threat to this agenda, because they resist the idea that women are defined by an innate female essence rooted in reproductive biology, and that being mothers is, therefore, their nature and destiny. If someone born with ovaries and a uterus can escape the call of motherhood and if someone born without can be a woman, the white supremacist message falls apart. If gender is “just a feeling,” as some conservatives put it, then how can we say that women’s purpose is to bear and raise children? If people can “mess with” their reproductive organs, how can reproduction be the pinnacle of human life? Gender-affirming care poses a challenge to the reproductive imperative. It must be suppressed to sustain white supremacy, or, in the words of Conservative Political Action Conference speaker Michael Knowles: “For the good of society … transgenderism must be eradicated from public life entirely.”

When a recreation of the Emperor Augustus was shown at the Vatican Museum with accurate polychromy in 2008, Stanford art historian Fabio Barry responded by saying it looked “... like a cross-dresser trying to hail a taxi,” (Stewart, par.1). Altering the sculptures to have evidence of gender affirming care, queer clothing, and darker skin tones would invite the audience to reflect on their loyalty to the ‘clean’ white marble aesthetic, remember that gender variance existed in the ancient world as well as the modern one, and consider the policing of both gender and reproduction as an issue of race.

The T4AIC project can be replicated in any art institute, can be applied to modern works as well as classic pieces. Anywhere a human body is replicated and positioned in a place of viewing is political ground, the main difference between applying the project to modern works is the relationship to the original artist. Modern artists are more likely to resist additions to their works, on account of having a higher percent living compared to classical sculptors. The current gallery exposition of classical sculptures in its unintended whiteness already betrays the artists’ objective, as the intention was site-specific. The goal was for the sculpture to be so well suited to its environment that it fooled the viewer into thinking it was a real person; division between sculpture and reality was fluid and theatrical in Ancient Rome. As Mark Abbe, Associate Professor of Art History and Area Chair of Art History at the University of Georgia said of Roman sculpture, “The modern art gallery, you could say, kills these things—transforms them into something they’re not,” (Talbot, par. 36). With this in mind, changing the sculptures to be reflective of the lived reality surrounding them is a treatment more faithful to the original artists.

There are works in every art museum which embody cisgender male artists’ attempts at controlling, objectifying, and belittling female sexual and reproductive agency; and whiteness in classical sculpture is not the only aesthetic white supremacists and alt-right groups have adopted. Perpetuations of white supremacy can be seen in the cultural erasure and elevation of purity tied to American minimalist sculpture (Usackas, par. 1), as well as the discriminatory internal operations of museums. To challenge current installations of white supremacy in the art world, and turn museums into institutions reflecting the cultures that surround them instead of acting as keepers of cultural standards, current artworks and artists must also enter the conversation. Two digital representations of edited classical subjects are provided below, and a digitally edited version of Jeff Koons’ Woman in Tub.

Works Cited:

Ashley, Florence and Blue Buchanan. “The Anti-Trans Panic Is Rooted in White Supremacist Ideology.” Truthout, 19, May 2023.

“Do Women Have To Be Naked To Get Into the Met. Museum?” The Met, 2024.

Fiore, Julia. “These 5,000-Year-Old Sculptures Look Shockingly Similar to Modern Art.” Artsy, 30, Nov. 2018.

Guerilla Girls. “Do Women Have to be Naked to Get Into the Met. Museum?” The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1989.

Hucal, Sarah. “How the myth of whiteness in classical sculpture was created.” Deutsche Welle, 24, Jan. 2023.

Koons, Jeff. “Woman in Tub.” The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, 1988.

Lepinski, Sarah and Dan-el Padilla Peralta. “Debunking the Myth of Whiteness.” The Met, 7, July, 2022.

Liverani, P. and Vatican Museum Conservators. “Polychrome reconstruction of the Prima Porta statue of Augustus.” Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology, Oxford, 2004.

Naselli, Mara. “Beyond the Gaze: Reclaiming the Female Form After Nochlin.” Los Angeles Review of Books, 28, Jan. 2018.

Rodin, Auguste. “Adam.” The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Modeled 1881 cast 1924.

Roman. “Statue of Meleager.” The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, 1st-2nd Century.

Roman. “Statue of Aphrodite of Knidos.” The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, 2nd Century.

Stewart, Peter. “The Polychrome Reconstruction of the Prima Porta Statue.” Frieze, 1, Oct. 2017.

Talbot, Margaret. “The Myth of Whiteness in Classical Sculpture.” The New Yorker, 22, Nov. 2018.

Usackas, Jack. “Minimalism & Crime – An Exploration of Cultural Identity.” Design TO, 21, Jan. 2022.

[silokunnas]

Local Block. Summer 2024 @ Jyväskylän taidemuseo.

Jonna Suurhasko - Jukka Silokunnas.

[de-mykel]

Chris Drury. Cloud Pool Chamber. 2008.

felled diseased logs, granite

[piizunn]

let's meet at the confluence (2024)

A little sneak peak of my work for The New Gallery and Billboard 208 that will be up from January 27th - June 28th, 2024. Images of it installed to come! <3

let’s meet at the confluence is a suggestion to all Calgarians to consider the site where the Elbow flows into the Bow river and question how settler-colonial history is privileged in public and site specific art. The piece references the different histories of gathering at the confluence of the waters, histories that long predate Calgary, Alberta. Despite histories of Indigenous uses of the land, queer cruising, sex work, trade, the arrival of the railway, and the North West Mounted Police, the site of the confluence is often overlooked and rarely used as the great meeting place that it once was. 

The simple map and text invites an audience of all backgrounds, Indigenous and non-Indigenous alike, to make their way from the The New Gallery along the Bow river to the confluence viewpoint and to consider their proximity to one another. The text is in English and the word confluence is repeated in multiple languages including Blackfoot, Cantonese, and Cree to honour the artist’s Michif roots and the specific location of the billboard on Treaty 7 and in China Town, pointing to the history of many different people living along the rivers.

[seshgirlie]

Meg Webster, The Perfect Spiral, 1990

[itscolossal]

Thirteen Prodigious Sculptures Nestle Among the Trees in ‘La Forêt Monumentale’

[missmodular]

Arakawa and Madeline Gins’ Site of Reversible Destiny—Yoro Park. Yoro Park, Gifu Prefecture, Japan.

[ociologo]

Curaduría y Producción: BUIT a.k.a Facundo Burgos Iturralde

Programa de Artes Visuales Site Specific - Distancia Focal

Departamento de Artes Visuales - Espacio Cultural Julio Le Parc

Ministerio de Cultura - Provincia de Mendoza

[shibe-myths]

prologue vibes

A huntress sculpture in the forest woven from willow branches

[random-delulum]

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[brigitaantoni]

Kulshedra

Venue: Ada Bojana, Ulcinj (Montenegro)

April 2024

Imagine walking alone along the coast, enjoying the view of the bright blue sea and the soothing sound of waves… Step by step, you walk along a wild beach, treading the sand under your feet, calmly. You are in the middle of an environment that looks incredibly attractive and meek, where nature excels in showing a better side of its face and where everything else seems to be subordinated to that beauty only. All of a sudden, you notice something unusual – something (or someone) that threatens to disrupt the idyll of your peaceful walk by the sea. A larger-than-life creation, reminiscent of a massive, enigmatic wormhole, stretches before your eyes and your feet. What kind of behemoth is this and how did this monster surface out of the sea right here, in front of you, on a beautiful sunny day?

Instead of running away headfirst in fear and disbelief, you decide to get closer to it. Neither dead nor alive, the “thing” turns out to be nothing of a monster. Upon your closer observation, you realize that this unusual, perhaps abandoned object is something more than a mere pile of plastic bags and bottles (often collected during the summer and then thrown away or left forgotten by negligent tourists). What you are witnessing instead is an artfully crafted object, spanning an impressive five meters in length. Ingeniously folded in half and meticulously sewn on one side, it exposes an intricate construction that leaves the front and back intentionally open. Thus, it imparts a surreal and immersive quality, which triggers your attention even more. You feel like being almost invited to enter this tunnel-like sculpture half dug up and filled with sand. Why? Because this soft, immobile creature (if it is to be called a “sculpture” at all) evokes the sensation of stepping into another, alternate reality within it. In light of this scenario, you might be left pondering: within this enigmatic “wonderland” – where did Alice vanish to?

The sculpture’s unique material further enhances its otherworldly appeal. Fashioned from a lustrous, stretchy black fabric often playfully referred to as “fake leather,” it adds a touch of mystique and luxury to the piece. The inky black surface undulates like a cosmic void, inviting contemplation and exploration. Intriguingly, the object is not limited to this single fabric: smaller, complementary forms emerge from the “black abyss,” crafted from a stretchy, viscose material in bold red and pink hues. These vibrant accents introduce a dynamic and contrasting dimension to the mysterious form. Placed in a horizontal position along the seashore at the so-called Long Beach (Velika Plaža), this black object is inviting viewers to ponder the interplay of colors and textures in the vision of its creator. Here, amidst the surreal maritime landscape of Ada Bojana, on the southernmost tip of Montenegro, where the dunes create a dynamic backdrop for the object’s installation, Brigita Antoni has realized a site-specific project that transcends the boundaries of traditional (public) sculpture and becomes an interactive experience revolving around the figure of the gorgon Medusa and the related topic of Gigantomachy – from a uniquely Adriatic perspective.

The theme of the Gigantomachy, depicting the battle between gods and giants, enjoyed significant popularity in ancient Greek art. It symbolically represented the triumph of reason and order over chaos. The victory of the Olympian gods over the giants, originally personifying uncontrolled natural forces, particularly volcanoes, was seen by ancient authors as a victory of the Greeks over the barbarians. In contrast to this widely accepted mythological narrative, Brigita Antoni's project revolves around a lesser-known version of the battle, featuring two captivating dragon-like characters: the male protagonist representing reason and order (dragua) triumphing over the “barbaric” female protagonist symbolizing chaos (kulshedra). Rooted in a widespread legend throughout the Albanian-speaking Balkans, this story showcases a formidable female dragon believed to be responsible for natural catastrophes and resulting disorder in the world. The primary “civilizing” role of her male counterpart is to engage in combat and subdue this female monster, thereby restraining her capricious tendencies (and keeping her under his control).

What distinguishes kulshedra is not only its role in mythology but also its striking and grotesque appearance. Kulshedra is renowned for its awe-inspiring presence, and not only due to her immense size. Typically depicted as a colossal serpent with 7 to 12 heads, her face and body are veiled in fiery red, woolly hair, giving her an otherworldly aura. Her long, hanging breasts trail along the ground, adding to her mystique. Associated with natural elements and unfavorable weather conditions, she dwells in locations tied to water, fire, earth (especially the underworld), droughts, and storms. One of the most compelling facets of kulshedra’s myth is her ability to breathe forth fire from every one of her menacing heads. As she unleashes this fiery display, it’s said that storm clouds gather ominously in the sky, heralding her presence and role as an ancient storm demon.

Does this exclusively imply kulshedra’s negative, destructive character, or could it reveal something deeper about her resistance to humanity’s attempts to subdue and manipulate nature in accordance with its own desires? Is it possible that – like the ancient Gorgon Medusa – kulshedra, a female dragon originating from Albanian mythology, serves as an apotropaic figure? In other words, does she actually protect the sanctuary of nature (instead of destroying it) by averting harm, with the implication being that the harm might come from none other than a man himself, as Antoni suggests? Possibly a man who happens to be both a highlander and a sailor at the same time?

The portrayal of kulshedra as an ancient female storm demon raises questions about the connection between myth, gender, and nature, and how this relates to the biased interpretations among the Albanian-speaking community and its environmental or meteorological beliefs. What could be the cultural and even existential implications of such an interpretation? The issue gets complicated even further by the fact that, beyond mythology, the term “kulshedra” is used metaphorically in the Albanian language to describe a quarrelsome or argumentative woman. This figure reflects values projected onto women, highlighting the region’s historical and deeply ingrained sexist approach to gender-divided human relationships. Thus, it connects ancient legends to contemporary expressions.

Antoni’s project, which takes kulshedra as a cultural metaphor, seeks to expose and eventually overcome the popular stereotype woven around this mythological figure and projected onto the identity and fate of women in the region. In essence, it sheds light on how this usage reflects societal attitudes towards strong-willed or assertive women within the context of unjustified and persistent silencing, marginalization, or neglect of their social role and significance, beyond their roles in biological reproduction and household duties.

While Antoni has designed her public sculpture as a “soft and ephemeral” intervention by the coast, this doesn’t diminish the strength of her primary objective: to generate awareness about the rebellion of Gaia, or mother Earth, against the stark indicators of a climate catastrophe – or, perhaps, a climate rebirth – which we, as human beings, are bound to experience and must confront to avoid being engulfed by it. Antoni’s fervent, nearly explosive call to embrace our own inner monsters and ride them heroically, akin to the ancient Chinese teachings, offers another means of responding to the age-old wisdom embodied by the Ouroboros in pursuit of wholeness: the one that defines and redefines our humanity, and its unavoidable cyclical renewal.

So, do not worry too much! Keep walking along the coast – and consume your own tail in the name of destruction and rebirth.

Kulshedra is taking care of you.

text written by: Marko Stamenkovic

[melmelmelsz]

refection on: One Place After Another: Notes on Site Specificity, Miwon Kwon

“The seemingly benign architectural features of a gallery/ museum, in other words, were deemed to be coded mechanisms that actively disassociate the space of art from the outer world, furthering the institution's idealist imperative of rendering itself and its hierarchization of values “objective," "disinterested," and “true.”” … “Deeming the focus on the social nature of art's production and reception to be too exclusive, even elitist, this expanded engagement with culture favors "public" sites outside the traditional confines of art in physical and intellectual terms.”

The commodifying aspect of my art is something that’s always on my mind. The commodification of everything—nature, bodies, art, time—is directly tied to the socioeconomic system we live in, which is literally my biggest opp. When a work is displayed in a gallery, it inevitably becomes inaccessible to part of the population because galleries and museums reinforce the elitist nature of the art world.

I don’t want my practice to be solely focused on creating work that—no matter how meaningful—only reaches a specific demographic with access to these spaces. But the issue is bigger than me, and I have to come to terms with the fact that, for now, part of my practice will be directed toward those who have the resources to engage with art more easily. Still, I’m deeply interested in breaking away from these moorings and making my work more accessible to the public. It’s a desperate ask for help. And this reading planted little seeds in my brain.