Death and Disaster

There is an interesting relationship between minimalist sculpture, monuments and memorials, as someone commented to me a few weeks ago. Conventional monuments, through their inherant longevity and ability to outlive their original context (and maker), to some degree inevitably become a consideration of mortality, whether it was the original intention or not. The traditional model is the cenotaph or statue, vertical (phallic?) structures that commemorate a person, event or (by default) the artist and the commissioning patron or corporation. In the case of disasters, a memorial is created, perhaps as a byproduct of the event itself, that takes on a significant resonance as the site of some great tragedy. In some cases the site is a signifier in name alone, remote and inaccessible, perhaps inhospitable as a result of a catastrophe. Or the signifier is what was erased from the site, structures that become iconic symbols of what had previously been there, now marked by an absence or a metaphoric place-holder of some sort. Or the disaster lives in the public imagination, especially of those who never have or never will visit the site, through iconic images distributed by the mass media.

Perhaps the most significant of these is the empty (negative) site that once held New York's World Trade Centre, now known as GROUND ZERO.

New Zealand's worst air disaster, the 1979 crash of a DC10 into Mt Erebus, Antarctica was made the subject of Stella Brennan's White Wall / Black Hole, exhibited in the 2006 Biennale of Sydney. Images of a dark, inky stain left in the snow are probably what first comes to mind when kiwis think of EREBUS.

Stella's excavation of history has recently led her to links between the military development of sonar and radar in WWII and the present application of that technology in ultrasound, most commonly used to show signs of growing life during pregnancy. Included in her South Pacific exhibition are ultrasound images of a model Enola Gay, which dropped Little Boy on HIROSHIMA.

The name Chernobyl has become synonymous with the nuclear reactor accident at the nearby town of PRIPYAT, Ukraine, now contained in a 30km exclusion zone. This dead-zone makes for spooky viewing when doing a virtual fly-over with google maps. Notice, if you view labels or flick to map view, that the whole region is unmarked, as if it officially doesn't exist. Especially if you're familiar with Elena Filatova's images, allegedly taken on several motorcycle tours of Chernobyl's environs. Unlike the work of some of the artists on this site, it is said that the results of Chernobyl will remain in the land for 48,000 years.

Inventor Nikolai Tesla (played by David Bowie in the movie The Prestige) apparently had plans for a mechanical eye that would allow people to see all over the globe - I wonder if he patented that one, google maps? A favourite amongst conspiricists, it is thought that Tesla misfired a Death Ray he was aiming at the Arctic, causing an enormous explosion in Tunguska, Siberia. I was kind of hoping to find some sort of radioactive crop circle mysteriously maintaining its mark on the land. Not great resolution around here but still worth a VISIT.

Around, About Expanded Field

The April/May Art World (Aus/NZ) magazine is out and includes a feature on New York artist Peter Coffin. In discussing his Around, About Expanded Field (Sculpture Silhouette Props) (2007) works, which are MDF silhouettes of famous pieces, from Brancusi to Koons to the Easter Island heads presented with a projection of landscapes taken from a helicopter, he says:

"I was interested in re-contextualising the works I represented with the silhouettes as a way to give them a new life. Because these iconic works exist in our memory and are almost weighed down by their history and their iconic status, I decided to represent them as floating shadows..."

Images can be found on his Saatchi Gallery page.

7 Pieces of Pre-modernism

Easter Island

Unfortunately this is the best view currently available on google maps.

Chichen Itza, Yucatan, Mexico

Michael Heizer visitied this ancient Mayan city prior to starting his own "City" project. Again, this is the best view available on google maps. I've heard of government departments and people with privacy issues requesting removal from google maps. I wonder if sites of cultural sensitivity have been given similar treatment as this and Easter Island are conspicuous in their absence, particularly with a dramatic improvement of resolution so close by.

Pyramids, Egypt

That's the Sphinx to the lower right. Not ever having physically been here, I was suprised to see the proximity to an urban environment. Can you imagine having these just up the road from you? Perhaps romantically, I always imagined you'd drive for miles to see these. Of course, these were a part of a civilisation and would have been integrated into a community in some way. Finding these, I'm also struck by how indiscriminate google maps can be. I just plugged 'pyramids' into the search and this is the view I was offered with no further explanation or information, just an image to explore. By zooming out in map-view, one can confirm that this is on the outskirts of Al Qahirah, Egypt, and see exactly where it sits in relation to other borders.

Taj Mahal, India
From this view it is the landscaping rather than the architecture, if they can be separated, that impresses.

Stonehenge, England

Having become accustomed to major landmarks having substantial tourist industries built around them, the first time I drove past this I was surprised to encounter it almost by chance with very little fanfare.

Maungawhau Crater, Auckland, New Zealand

This is primarily a natural landmark but you can also clearly still see traces of the Maori occupation of this site. The natural parabolic qualities of Mt Eden (Maungawhau)'s crater have been exploited in performances by Phil Dadson, but that is another strand of art geography that we will come back to later.

Circular field, Africa

Strongly resembling a crop circle but more likely just a nice, circular piece of mowing. I'm getting a bit off-topic now but the crop circle thing is definitely something we'll return to.

8 Easy Pieces

Here are some classics:

Walter De Maria, Lightning Field

Michael Heizer, Double Negative

Michael Heizer, City

Nancy Holt, Sun Tunnels

Robert Morris, Observatory

James Turrell, Roden Crater

Robert Smithson, Spiral Jetty

Donald Judd, Chinati Foundation

I'll come back to each of these later on, once things get going, but for now we need some sort of foundation to get the ball rolling. I know, they're mostly American males of a certain generation but we'll work on that.