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Site-specific art

274 articles

Site-specific art is a form of artistic creation designed for a particular location, taking into account the space’s unique characteristics. This genre emerged in the 1960s with the rise of installation art and land art. Artists like Robert Smithson, with his “Spiral Jetty,” and Christo and Jeanne-Claude, known for wrapping buildings and landscapes, pioneered this approach. Site-specific works often integrate with their environment, whether natural or urban, and can encompass various mediums including sculpture, performance, and multimedia installations.

Notable examples include Richard Serra’s “Tilted Arc” and Olafur Eliasson’s “The Weather Project” at Tate Modern. Site-specific art challenges traditional notions of portable, commodifiable artworks, often emphasizing experience over object. It can be permanent, like Maya Lin’s Vietnam Veterans Memorial, or temporary, such as Ai Weiwei’s installations.

Michelangelo-Pistoletto-Venus-of-the-Rags-1967-plaster-and-fabric-figure-165.1-x-55.9-x-61.6-cm-65-x-22-x-24-14-in.-rags-dimensions-variable-installation-view-feat

Michelangelo Pistoletto’s nude Venus inspects a rag of clothes (sfw)

Installations, Textile art   6 min read
Born in 1933 in Biella, Italy, Michelangelo Pistoletto’s was among the first interpreters of the radical renewal of artistic language, both socially and aesthetically, in the early 1960s. He was also one of the protagonists of Arte Povera. Pistoletto began to gain recognition in the mid-1950s, particularly after creating his first Quadri specchianti (Mirror Paintings) [...]

Michelangelo Pistoletto’s nude Venus inspects a rag of clothes (sfw) Read

Yin Xiuzhen & her 14 meter minibus Collective Unconscious

Installations, Mixed media, Textile art   2 min read
Collective Subconscious is a large-scale interactive installation created by Beijing-based artist Yin Xiuzhen. She has spent the last twenty-five years creating and displaying works that reflect her surrounding environment and her relationship with it. Her works are usually personal and environmentally engaging and typically site-specific. Collective Subconscious, which is composed of a bisected minivan connected [...]

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Artist Xu Zhen’s stunning installation at the Long Museum

Sculptures, Statues   2 min read
Xu Zhen is a leader within the domain of contemporary Chinese art and is said to be one of the most sought-after international contemporary artists. Xu Zhen uses inspiration from both Chinese and Western cultures while combining the embodiment of both. He uses sociocultural frameworks as an inspiration for his pieces to target and, what [...]

Artist Xu Zhen’s stunning installation at the Long Museum Read

Richard Wilson & The Italian Job – Is this bus falling off a roof?

Installations   2 min read
The sculptural installation by Richard Wilson titled Hang On A Minute Lads, I’ve Got a Great Idea showcases a full-sized replica of a old-fashioned twin-axel Harrington Legionnaire coach that looks as if it is teetering precariously on the edge threatening to fall off The Peninsula’s seventh-floor. How did it work? The sculpture was inspired by [...]

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Cai Guo-Qiang’s massive 8min explosive performance made citizens call the police

Performances   2 min read
Cai Guo-Qiang is a New York-based artist and one of the furthermost celebrated contemporary artists originating from China. He is known for a remarkable new kind of fireworks spectacle, which he calls “explosion events.” He has taken gunpowder, one of China’s Four Great Inventions and led the way in a new impressive form of art [...]

Cai Guo-Qiang’s massive 8min explosive performance made citizens call the police Read

Pierre Huyghe fills Sydney’s opera house with 1000 real trees

Installations, Mixed media   2 min read
A Forest of Lines by Pierre Huyghe is a space that brings together the sacred and the profane. It blurs boundaries, eliminating the separation between the audience and the art where they can become the performance as they explore the constructed forest in the theatre made of a thousand real trees, inside the concert hall [...]

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Richard Jackson - Bad Dog feat

Richard Jackson’s Bad Dog pees on prestigious Californian art collection

Sculptures   3 min read
Richard Jackson’s Bad Dog was installed as part of the artist’s Orange County Museum of Art retrospective. The installation, titled simply as Bad Dog, was a giant 28-foot temporary sculpture of a black Labrador urinating yellow paint on the museum walls for his exhibition titled Ain’t Painting a Pain. It was an immediate hit. Crowds [...]

Richard Jackson’s Bad Dog pees on prestigious Californian art collection Read

Christian Marclay: 7 stained glass windows you won’t see in any cathedral

Stained glass windows   3 min read
After spending a whopping $26 million on renovations, the Palais de Tokyo in Paris is now the largest contemporary art center in Europe. It has four levels and is as big as three football fields. With plenty of space, they have creatively allowed the building itself to become part of the art. Artists were invited [...]

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Kaarina Kaikkonen – These are some of her best installations

Environmental art, Installations   3 min read
Kaarina Kaikkonen is one of Finland’s most important artists. She is best known for her inventive use of second-hand clothing pieces (mostly jackets & shirts) and molded craft paper to transform public places like churches, streets and plazas into memorable jacket installations. The environment is incorporated into these installations in some way, resulting in a [...]

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Jeremy Deller’s Stonehenge: Sacrilege stirs controversy

Installations, Sculptures   4 min read
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to physically interact with an ancient monument like Stonehenge? Jeremy Deller’s Sacrilege turns this idea into reality by recreating the iconic structure as a giant inflatable bouncy castle. This playful and thought-provoking installation invites people of all ages to bounce, roll, and jump on a life-sized [...]

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Bettina Pousttchi covers complete castle with photorealistic print

Architecture, Installations   5 min read
Born in 1971, Bettina Pousttchi is a German-Iranian artist, living and working in Berlin. She is known for her sculptures, videos, and photography, often involving architecture in urban and historical contexts. Her site-specific installations explore systems of time and space from a large-scale perspective. World Time Clock Currently living in Berlin, Pousttchi is best known [...]

Bettina Pousttchi covers complete castle with photorealistic print Read

Etienne Lavie’s billboard project – Parisian art on the loose

Installations   1 min read
Why visit a museum if you can just roam around the streets of Paris just to appreciate art? Through the hustle and bustle of the streets in Paris, it’s not hard to notice such unique placement of the classical French paintings, namely, La Liberté Guidant le peuple by Eugène Delacroix, Souvenir de Mortefontaine by Jean-Baptiste-Camille [...]

Etienne Lavie’s billboard project – Parisian art on the loose Read