Site-Specific Art

Traditionally, Site-specific art is created with the final site in mind and that site or location is incorparated into the design and creation of the artwork. The artwork is created to be displayed in a certain location and might not be as effective in a different location. With Sculptures, the surrounding landscape is often taken into account and plays a roll with the sculpture. There are many artists who build site-specific work and three that come to mind with certain projects include:

Christo-Surrounded Islands :
All of Christo's wrappings are done in a specific area or a specific building and each piece relies on what is wrapped, therefore it is extremely site-specific.

Robert Smithson- Spiral Jetty:

I imediatley thought of this piece when I searched for site-specific work. It was planned for this site and that is exactly where it went.

Andy Goldsworthy- The Neuberger Cairn:

The surrounding landscape was obviously taken into account in the design of the artwork and it goes well with the piece at this site, where it is permanently installed.


As far as a Computer screen or Browser window being the location for a Site-Specific artwork there are two possibilities. 1. take a play on words and the specific website that the artwork is located on is that site that it was specifically built for or 2. A computer screen could be installed in a location or gallery and the artwork displayed on it can only be displayed through that screen. There are several works on RHizome.org that play with these ideas.

http://universalacid.net/ is an artwork located only on that specific-site.