Summary Of Genealogy Of Site Specificity By Miwon Known

Semantics are often overused in theoretical and ideological reviews or academic articles. This essay “Genealogy of Site Specificity” by Miwon Known was an example of confusing and repetitive semantic usage. Even the definition of site-specificity is complicated. I think the simplest definition would be that site-specific art is any artwork created to exist in a certain location and in which the artist takes the location into consideration while planning and creating the artwork, such as a sculpture’s height and visibility from all angles if it was to be displayed in a museum. However, different artists and critics including the author of this article have diverse definitions about the specifics involved. Prior to 1960s, art was traditionally
There are three specific artists and their artwork that represent these two approaches. Mierle Laderman Ukeles represents the physical site. The cultural/discursive site is best shown in the works of Hans Haacke and Mel Buchner. In Ukeles’ work titled “Hartford Wash: Washing Tracks, Maintenance Outside”, she presented a performance of cleaning the exterior and interior of a well-known museum as a physical, social commentary on diversity issues. Her purpose was to represent how the museum degraded employees in order to preserve the appearance of the museum’s galleries. The other form of artistic protest (cultural/discursive) meaning nondependent and free of restrictive boundaries was in two ways demonstrated by Hans Haacke and Mel Bochner. Hans Haacke created the “Condensation Cube” in 1965, as a structural visualization that was non-dependent on its location. Mel Bochner created the most recognizable and well-known protest artwork called “Measurement Room” in 1969, to symbolize the restrictions involved in architecture of any kind. Bochner wrote measurements on the walls to emphasize the dimensions of the location and Haacke made his “Condensation Cube” portable and thus, able to be displayed in any
They also were pointing out object of value and thus separated from its true artistic value. It was a protest against how galleries and museums were controlling the artwork and in most cases not recognizing or supporting minimalist artists. This was partially because after the Second World War, many social issues that had been buried or accepted as unchangeable began to be questioned by the American public. Social issues such as racial, sexual orientation, and political freedoms were now issues that many artists wish to portray regardless of conservative politics and