Being and Circumstance -- Notes Toward a Confidential Art, by Robert Irwin, 1985.
1) Site dominant. This work embodies the classic tenets of permanence, transcendent and historical content, meaning, purpose; the art-object either rises out of, or is the occasion for, it's 'ordinary' circumstances -- monuments, historical figures, murals, etc...
2) Site adjusted. Such work compensates for the modern development of the levels of meaning-content having been reduced to terrestrial dimensions (even abstraction)...
3) Site specific. Here the 'sculpture' is conceived with the site in mind; the site sets the parameters and is, in part, the reason for the sculpture...
4) Site conditioned/determined. Here the sculptural response draws all of its cues (reasons for being) from its surroundings. This requires the process to begin with an intimate, hands on reading of the site.
Site dominant art is the most traditional way of thinking about sculpture; where the sculptor makes an object which can be placed anywhere to be viewed. One may define Robert Indiana’s Love sculpture on the IMA’s grounds as a site dominate piece.
Site adjusted piece of art is changed after conception to better fit the space in which it is to be shown. An example of this would be Sol Lewitt’s Wall Drawing No. 652, or the plastic cup and tar paper installations by Tara Donovan. The artists adjusted dimensions of the work to better fit the space.
Site specific sculpture is one that is produced by the artist reacting and working in connection with the physical demands and the conceptual context of the space provided. A good example of this would be Maya Lin’s Above and Below, which was inspired by the Indiana geological landscape and the specific space the IMA provided.
Site conditional art replaces artistic agency by directly growing an installation from the requirements of the site itself, blurring the line between the architecture, design, and art of a space. The idea of growing an installation out of the space instead of showing a work in a space deeply intrigues me. The subtle manner in which this type of installation is experienced rather than directly looked at questions all the traditional paradigms of art and art documentation. How do you properly represent an installation that demands you walk through and around it on paper? Another site determined installation at the IMA’s Art and Nature Park; Stratum Pier by Kendall Buster, requires
