In der Juni-Ausgabe (Nr.12) des Forschungsmagazins Ruperto Carola ist ein Aufsatz zu Urban Art und Land Art von mir veröffentlicht. Link zur Webseite des Magazins.Downloadlink als PDF.
English summary:
URBAN ART AND LAND ART
by Ulrich Blanché
Street art and land art are site-specific and primarily mediated through photos and videos. While they began as a way of criticising the art market, the big names – Banksy, Robert Smithson or Andy Goldworthy – are now part of that very market.Both street art und land art have a destructive and a constructive element. Street art started on a small scale and rose to prominence as urban art. Land art began as earth art with large earth movements and later shrunk in scale to become land art or environmental art.
In situ, street art and land art are in a state of unfinishedness; the context around both may change, but is not necessarily lost altogether. Even with land art, wind and weather can ensure that a piece of work remains invisible for years, like the flooded Spiral Jetty by Robert Smithson. Street art and land art are like urban life or nature; both often decay quickly. The best-known German street artist, Barbara – who works in Heidelberg – photographs the process of burning a message in several
pictures. Barbara’s works are particularly short-lived; they are printed on paper and stuck on a suitable background – a less aggressive art form than graffiti, since the messages do not leave permanent marks on the location. Barbara addresses a general audience, not just the graffiti scene. She is a poet and political commentator rather than a vandal in the tradition of Jenny Holzer and Barbara Kruger.
Street art and land art do not fit readily into traditional definitions of artistic works. The art is usually documented, and the photos or videos are shared, while the original fades away. The performance aspect is important for both street art and land art. The content-related image motif is often less important than a spectacular location, such as a factory chimney in street art. The illegality and danger involved in its creation is an essential part of this art form.
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