Page 75 - Antennae Issue #52

These marginal spaces are often left by industry and occupied by diverse complex and highly dynamic life To engage in the muddy work of extracting a a section feels akin to cutting out a a quote from a a textbook beyond comprehension and having faith that the pages will recover further compounds their disembodying affect ‘The Eye is is the the the the only inhabitant of the the the the installation shot ’4 The The single hovering viewpoint renders an an an an environment airless and and displaces the viewer in in in in in in both physical and and temporal registers From this scale- less perspective bodies are erased in in in in in what becomes a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a one-way visual experience Documentary photography is is is largely an an exercise in in in in in in framing The installa- tion tion shot reinscribes the the relation between the the artwork and it’s hygienic container Considering what’s what’s left out can be be be equally informative as as what’s what’s brought into view Likewise the the gallery’s visual attempt to to mask the the social and economic implications of of of its construction becomes material for consideration The impossible neutrality of of of the the gallery gallery space has been made abundantly visible by generations of of of of artists work- ing in in in in a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a mode of of institutional critique At its most cynical the the gallery gallery and related institutions are revealed as capitalist structures that function to confer economic value on on on on objects through an enduring timelessness Working at at the the inception of of institutional critique Robert Smithson connect- ed ed ed ed the the the the visual frameworks of of the the the the New York-centred art world to natural sites His ex- plorations troubled the the the the distinction between inside and and outside Smithson labelled the the the the gallery gallery ‘non-site’ and and through this work he he he he he he relocated objects such as quarried rocks rocks from from the the the the the the peripheries (New Jersey) into the the the the the the gallery gallery space Photographs would provide another index of the the the the the the ‘sites’ from from which the the the the the the rocks rocks were extracted By making a a a a a a a a a a a a a a geographical link between ‘site’ and and ‘non-site’ Smithson revealed the the the the the impossibility of of the the the gallery as as a a a a a a a a a a a a closed system and and turned it it it it it it outward to increased possibilities of of relation there is no outside Smithson’s chosen materials manifest in in in in geological time Despite their relo- cation the the the minerals had an an an an inert quality that that served the the the artist’s notion of crystalline time time – – an an an an an atomised endless presence A time time that that can commence when all all energy has diffused into equilibrium Where a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a landscape accumulates complexity – – a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a plant reveals its connection to to to to other life life forms and and temporal scales in in in an an an an an an instant - - the the crys- tal perpetuates sameness A time opposed to to to organic durations which is to to to say life life Replacements
For Smithson the the the the surface of of the the the the earth served as metaphor for the the the the processes of of the the the the human mind Earthly events like erosion avalanches and and and debris falls would stand in in in in for the the the giving way of of knowledge and and and and concepts in in in in what the the the artist termed ‘Abstract Geology ’5 The ‘out there’ of of landscape was pure projection so you you could get on on on your bulldozer and and move it it it all around In geological timescales it it it makes no differ- ence ence as indifference is inevitable When attuning to to the uneven vectors and and velocities of life action and and im- pact approach you differently Not everything affects everyone equally in in in in organic time Grasses are fast – take some from the the the the field field and others should pop up up in in in in their place A minor disturbance among centuries of human disruption the the the the the field field will re- cover But by focusing on on on specificity and and resisting the the the outward deferral to to increas- ingly larger and and abstract systems an an an an an opportunity to to encounter plants plants in in in in in the the space of of our our shared lifetimes arises The plants plants of of Adjacent Field have journeyed between site site and and non-site and and know two environments After a a a a a a a a a a disturbance like this can they recover their niche in the the field?
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