November 22, 2008 – February 28, 2009


Field Reports
                                                                           Documents and Strategies
                                                                           from Land Arts of the American West

                                                                           Temple Gallery is supported in part by
                                                                           the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts and by
                                                                           Friends of Temple Gallery
 

EXHIBITION

Temple Gallery
November 22, 2008 – February 28, 2009
Reception: Friday, November 21, 6 – 8pm

Field Reports: Documents and Strategies from Land Arts of the American West examines new developments in the study of landscape with documents and strategies produced by “Land Arts of the American West,” a field program that combines art practices with the broader overlays of ecology, archeology, geography, performance, architecture, and science. Creating work both on site and in the studio, these interdisciplinary investigations encompass the natural forces that shape the land and the social and cultural dynamics that define place.

Each year, Land Arts of the American West travels more than 8,000 miles with fourteen students, to live and work in the landscape of the Southwest for over fifty days. Visiting sites such as the Roden Crater Project, Chaco Canyon, Spiral Jetty, and the Bonneville Salt Flats, their itinerary combines investigative sites, where they encounter significant cultural interventions, and work sites, where they produce work in direct response to an expanding definition of landscape. Land Arts operates with a “no-trace” ethic, making every effort to minimize the impact of their work and evidence of their inhabitation. The program was started in 2000 by Bill Gilbert and has developed as a collaboration between Gilbert and Chris Taylor since 2002.

This exhibition, which will include documents, photographs and videos, was organized by Chris Taylor, director of Land Arts of the American West at Texas Tech University. 

Strategies within these documents will form the basis of an accompanying charrette, on view at Temple Gallery beginning January 16, 2009, that will demonstrate the working practices of Land Arts by testing them in other territories. To learn more about this project, click here.

Images, top: Gloria Haag working on the Bonneville Salt Flats, near Wendover, Utah, 08 SEP 2003.  Bottom: Exploring Sun Tunnels by Nancy Holt (1973-1976), near Lucin, Utah, 07 SEP 2004.  Photo credits: Chris Taylor.