Site-specific

Site-specific art is an art form where the place a piece of work is put is essential for the work to be successful.

Richard Serra’s tilted arc is an example of a purely site specific work of art. It cut right across an open plaza in front of a Federal building. It was placed to intervene with the surroundings and how people interact with the space. The piece was incredibly contentious and it was planned to be removed and rebuild in another site. However Serra was unwilling to let this happen, stating that the removal would destroy the piece. If this happened he would not associate with the work any longer.

Adam Chodzko’s Better Scenery series is another example of what is known as site-specific artwork. Presented in a gallery are a series of diptych photos of signs in different locations. These are photographic documents of real signs. These signs give detailed directions to each other’s whereabouts. Viewed in their original site they would make you think of a very different place, letting you think, dream or imagine another part of the world, through reading the directions to it. It could be argued that this is a purely site specific piece of artwork as the site chosen is completely pivital to the work in terms of the signs descriptions. However I feel that it is far more site relevant because a different site could just as easily be chosen. The work would still have the same nature and meaning. The specific directions on the signs would have to change, changing the work slightly, but not destroying the works integrity. What field or car park doesn’t matter exactly just so long as it is a car park and field. Viewing them in a gallery changes their site and the meaning of the work. You see the art in a different context. I feel this change in site adds rather than takes away. Another meaning is placed to the work. You get to see both sides of the story when these signs are presented in a gallery and you can compare. You are able to make up you’re own mind as to which is the better scenery using you’re knowledge of both sites and you’re own experience. Maybe you long for the big city but are stuck in an open plain in America with blue skies. Or vise versa. However if you take site as a wider meaning, the car park and field could be the site. As in any car park or field not just a specific pinned down area. The site could have a wider meaning and then I would fully agree that this is a site specific piece of artwork. I would say that site-specificity is a wide term, this work could be site specific to any car park in Britain or any wide open field space in America.