Instituto Inhotim

Hélio Oiticica, Invenção da cor, Penetrável Magic Square #5, De Luxe, 1977, photo by Eduardo Eckenfels, courtesy of Instituto Inhotim
Hélio Oiticica, Invenção da cor, Penetrável Magic Square #5, De Luxe, 1977, photo by Eduardo Eckenfels, courtesy of Instituto Inhotim

Near Brumadinho, Brazil, about 60 kilometers from Belo Horizonte in the state of Minas Gerais, the Instituto Inhotim is an open-air museum that combines art and nature with site-specific contemporary art in a sprawling landscape of botanical gardens. 

Continue reading “Instituto Inhotim”

City

Michael Heizer, City, 1970-2022, photo by Eric Piasecki, © Michael Heizer / Triple Aught Foundation

In a remote valley of central eastern Nevada, a complex of shaped landmasses and monolithic structures is thought to be the largest sculpture in the world. Composed of rocks, compacted dirt, and concrete, a mile and a half long and half a mile wide, Michael Heizer’s City is a vast work of Land Art.

Continue reading “City”

FOR FOREST

Max Peintner, Die ungebrochene Anziehungskraft der Natur, 1970/71, pencil drawing. © Max Peintner
Max Peintner, Die ungebrochene Anziehungskraft der Natur, 1970/71, pencil drawing. © Max Peintner

In 1970, the Austrian artist and architect Max Peintner imagined a small forest contained within a stadium in a drawing titled The Unending Attraction of Nature. In it, a sprawling, smoky, industrial city has subsumed the natural world, and thousands of spectators pack the stadium to look at a few hundred trees.

Continue reading “FOR FOREST”

Lines (57° 59′N, 7° 16’W)

Pekka Niittyvirta and Timo Aho, Lines (57° 59′ N, 7° 16’W), 2018-19, Taigh Chearsabhagh Museum & Arts Centre, image courtesy of Pekka Niittyvirta and Timo Aho
Pekka Niittyvirta and Timo Aho, Lines (57° 59′N, 7° 16’W), 2018-19, Taigh Chearsabhagh Museum & Arts Centre, image courtesy of Pekka Niittyvirta and Timo Aho

On the island of North Uist, in the Outer Hebrides archipelago on the northwest coast of Scotland, a site-specific installation shows the impact of future climate change with a visual reference to rising sea levels.

Continue reading “Lines (57° 59′N, 7° 16’W)”

Surrounded Islands

Christo and Jeanne-Claude, documentary photograph of Surrounded Islands, Biscayne Bay, Greater Miami, Florida, 1980–83; photo by Wolfgang Volz, © Christo 1983
Christo and Jeanne-Claude, documentary photograph of Surrounded Islands, Biscayne Bay, Greater Miami, Florida, 1980–83; photo by Wolfgang Volz, © Christo 1983

In May of 1983, eleven islands in Miami’s Biscayne Bay were surrounded with 6.5 million square feet of floating pink fabric. It was an incredibly vibrant spectacle – green islands, pink fabric, turquoise water, and blue skies – realized by the conceptual and environmental artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude. The project, Surrounded Islands, is the subject of an exhibition now at the Perez Art Museum Miami (PAMM).

Continue reading “Surrounded Islands”

The London Mastaba

Christo and Jeanne-Claude, The Mastaba (Project for London, Hyde Park, Serpentine Lake), 2016-2018, photo by Wolfgang Volz
Christo and Jeanne-Claude, The Mastaba (Project for London, Hyde Park, Serpentine Lake), 2016-2018, photo by Wolfgang Volz

In London’s Hyde Park, a monumental form floating on the Serpentine Lake is a feat of engineering and a spectacle many years in the making. Titled The Mastaba (Project for London, Hyde Park, Serpentine Lake), it is a temporary installation by the conceptual and environmental artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude.

Continue reading “The London Mastaba”

The Vertical Earth Kilometer

The Friedrichsplatz and Fridericianum, Kassel, Germany, photo by Carroy via Wikimedia Commons
The Friedrichsplatz and Fridericianum, Kassel, Germany, photo by Carroy via Wikimedia Commons

Every five years in Kassel, Germany, documenta is a contemporary art exhibition lasting 100 days. Each edition presents hundreds of works in and around the city, typically conceptual and frequently site-specific. Of the thousands of works shown since the first documenta in 1955, sixteen have become permanent installations in Kassel.

Continue reading “The Vertical Earth Kilometer”

I stormens öga

Bigert and Bergström, I stormens öga, installation view, 2017; photo by Jean-Baptiste Béranger, courtesy of Artipelag
Bigert and Bergström, I stormens öga, installation view, 2017; photo by Jean-Baptiste Béranger, courtesy of Artipelag

At Artipelag, a museum overlooking a bay in the Stockholm archipelago, an exhibition by Mats Bigert and Lars Bergström considers the intersection of culture and climate change. I stormens öga (In the storm’s eye) comprises works from 1990 to 2017 focusing on weather, climate, and human activity.

Continue reading “I stormens öga”