Telegram Conversation / Site-Specific Art, University of Applied Arts Vienna / Version 6

12:11 FK okay, ill start with throwing in how i sometimes explain our study programm (trying to make the effort to say something uniforming about our diverse class-practices) site specific art as I understand it, is about dealing with places. (I understand the german name Ortsbezogene much better than the english “site“). Its art that engages with its environment, analyses/contemplates and compares places, to then ultimately draw idea from that and create artistic expression.

Although it is true that there is no clear materiality to it, I think it can be said, that there is a repertoire (which could be interesting to try to list extensively and accurately) consisting of Maps, Plans, official papers, walls, streets, Shields, Drawing, intervention, found objects, etc. and documentary media like fotography, film, spoken words, Writing; Media which help to create context. Although these things seem interesting to a lot of students, the final artistic works sometimes are expressed then in more “artistic“ shape. (like drawings, prints, films, performances)

18:15 JH I would also say there is a difference between the english and the german term. While site specific art is really thought to be at a specific place, ortsbezogen is a bit broader. A work can also relate to a place while shown somewhere else. This could be f.e.a film.

Both somehow engage with a place. This could be as an example through the history of it or the political significance. I think there is a tendency for political approaches within our class.

19:52 EZ recently i thought about that if i work with a site (a public space, a physical space…) i feel like in the beginning of the process it‘s like asking a question to it. and through the question establishing some kind of connection. getting to know it.

the question can be sth like: “ah and what would you like me to do?“ or “why are you like this?“ or “whats up with this part of you?“ a bit as if it were human, and then i think about what i can do to make this more visible (but of course it‘s a bit bullshit because of course in the end it‘s about what i am able to see, what i am able to do, what others saw and so on…)

13:30 PHH I sometimes wonder how artistic works are discussed in classes other than the “site-specific art class“. I think maybe the difference is that – even if all media and topics are “allowed“ everywhere – the focus of the discussions shifts.

I remember a ZKF situation where we were discussing a painting work and rather conceptual questions came up in the class and I asked a colleague who was doing a guest semester in our class and actually came from the painting class how they would start the discussion or what the discussions would revolve around and she said that they would probably discuss, for example, why the paintings were hung that way, on the height etc. And this discussion did not come up in our class, rather other questions seemed to be important. Also because the class is not “specialised“ in a medium, i.e. there is not necessarily an in-depth understanding of a medium, works are discussed differently and it is perhaps less about the nerdy peculiarities of a medium.

18:06 GOO Hi guys, we need to finish this until the end of the month, so we should have everything done by Thursday. As the talk didn’t developed enough, I wanted to ask you if it would be tt for you to decide for a time period (maybe 1 – 3 hours) in which we all have to be active and contribute to the chat at least once? What do u think? Do you have some other idea?

18:17 EZ oh… maybe yeah lets do that? maybe we need a good starting question as well…

10:34 MFP Yes let’s do that. Doesn’t need to be a conversation I guess, we could just write our 
ideas, thoughts, also can react to others…

11:00 GOO Which day? Probably once in the evening, maybe today or tomorrow? Or we do 2 sessions in order for all the people to participate. Around 6-8pm Monday and Tuesday? What do u think? Then we also have a Wednesday in order to finish it

12:39 EZ as we decided, till tonight post sth (anything) about site specificity for you

13:28 JR Maybe it’s helpful to distinguish site specificity in our class in these two categories
–Communication within the class/feedback
–Working practices of the students

13:30 KL what paul said about our class: “Site-specific art leaves the studio to engage with concrete places and real spaces – with the “spatial manifestations“ of the material world in which we locate ourselves. Such a place can be an idea, but also built architecture, nature, landscape, society, public space, exhibition space, digital space, fictional space, our living space. As part of the course, we want to research these places in detail, experiment with them and transform them. The choice of means is completely open; the focus is on finding the right method, form and medium. This can range from photography, installation, painting, performance, intervention, sculpture, sound and video to text.”

13:41 JR @communication: I agree to what Pauline states, that there is no concentration on one media, but an attempt to talk about the decisions that were made about the material, the space, the audience, the context. As there is the format of dialogue partners, in which colleagues help to introduce one’s artwork, discussions in the class try to have a mood of understanding. Different Feedback methods are being tried out.

13:58 FKB I think the attempt to define site specificicici is a bit funny to me. In a time where no classic fine arts disciplin stays in its narrow framing, why doing that with site specificitycity? But to be honest, i dream most of the times site specific

16:01 MFP “site-specific” art refers to art that engages in immediate dialogue with its location

16:36 VIC Ok but like when would you say: this is def not Site specific Art?

16:39 LA everything can be site specific

16:39 MFP Inside institutions it means it comments it and even possibly critiques its host

16:39 GOO I think it’s more a question of to what extent is a certain project site-specific? How big of a relevance a certain site has on a projects concept

16:40 MFP institution’s history, its relationship with audiences and neighbouring communities, and much more

16:41 LA what is site unspecific 😛

16:42 GOO So would u say an artwork that deals with institutional critic is because of this also site-specific?

16:44 MFP Related to Side Specific Art insite Institutions: to address the power dynamics and aesthetics of the host institution

16:44 VIC i just remember reading the universities Description of their broad understanding of “Site“ and how That could just as well be a body, the Internet or literally a t h o u g h t

16:45 GOO Well then it’s really every artwork site-specific, i would not be so radical

16:47 MFP Yes of course 🙂 Site specific Art emphasise on curators and on curating and curation

16:59 MS I think site specific art is process that deals with a specific site (actual or fictional, space or state), influence it or even create one through generation of a situation. For me that includes also every artwork, research or process that radically deals with “site“ as an umbrella term.

16:59 EZ hmm isnt that then defined differently? as institutional critique? i dont think every site specific work needs to be or “deserves” the lable of institutional critique

17:01 MFP It’s what my work is referring to, not every “in situ“ art piece is institutional critique. Not to forget “o -site“ art, the space between the artist and the audience outside of a gallery or institutional space.

17:07 AN Exactly!
 Site specific art for me is the “art“ which gives to the cite opportunity to appear/speak/beeeeeee in its SPECIFICity

We make the space to become a space and wait for unexpectedness and let the things happen and share it with whiteness!
Although it stays unclear who is whitness in the situation)

17:12 MS exactly I think it is okay to define the word Site radically and be open about it, what makes an artwork site specific or not is rather the degree that site as such is in the center of the art work.

17:12 VIC Yes but i believe that a lot of “sites“ are socially constructed in most parts so in the end a lot of thoughts no?

17:13 MFP Every possibility of creating a room, space, frame, system, reference, shoe laces…

17:25 GOO Yes of course but at which point do we talk about the characteristic of site-specificy in an artwork? We agree that each artwork is to some extent site-specific, especially if everything can be a site (also a thought or a white cube). But for some artworks the discussion about their site-specificy is completely irrelevant. So I think the important aspects are (1) when the site is the starting point or very important point in the concept of the work and (2) when the artwork looses something (part of the concept or its story, or even it’s material elements) when its transferred to another space and is therefore not perceived as the whole or at least not perceived as the same in another space.
So for me the artwork which is about an artist’s inner world, her thought or feelings is not site-specific or not site-specific enough to characterize it as site-specific. When a painting of an artist’s inner world is transferred from one to another exhibition space the artwork stays the same, it doesn’t loose anything.

17:37 AN Yeah this cool idea.

when it’s construct ed
it has stable narrative about itself.

And here come we…)

First point yeees 

Second point – then the transferring issue could be interesting challenge for site specific

17:40 MFP For me even the inner space
 can be put into relation to an actually site

17:41 GOO Yes of course in relation but it’s still the site which is not movable, not being able to see it completely in another space. The inner space is in this case only the part of the artwork, which works with the certain space

12:23 SAV Unter Ortsbezogene Kunst verstehe ich die Auseinandersetzung mit dem Ort oder der Räumlichkeit, in der man ausstellt. Im Zentrum steht das harmonisieren der Räumlichkeiten mit dem Kunstwerk. Es geht nicht darum, nur an das präsentieren des Kunstwerkes zu denken-sondern weiter an den Raum und den Ort zu denken. Daneben kann es sich auch um einen psychischen Ort handeln, den man mit dem Ausstellungsort in Verbindung setzt.

12:32 ACR for me I had this imagination with site specific art, that especially the public space takes importance in creating works. that the focus lies on other spaces than the white cube per se. breaking up the conservative art world by questioning spaces that are usually been occupied or established for art in general.
funnily i see it‘s a wider perspective on “site“ than one can even think of, which makes it very interesting to discuss it

12:42 GOO Yes my understanding was also very similar at first, maybe it got a bit more vague now with all of the different understandings in our class

12:41 ACR thinking about the room or site in general, how one own‘s work is presented and can interact with the space is also discussed in other classes, which for me would need a more radical thought of “site-specific“ then

12:43 GOO Yes i agree,
all art is in a certain relation
to the space around it
That doesn’t make it site-specific

12:51 SAV Yes but for example in my home uni, we only think about how we can present our own work the best, but we don‘t think about the place, there are no thoughts about it

13:18 ACR interesting, in my usual class we do an exhibition every year and it‘s crucial to visit the space in forward, before thinking about the work. it‘s not necessary that the work has to deal with the space itself, but at least the architecture and structure of the space has an importance. but yeah, probably it‘s also more about the presentation in the end, but it makes a difference how the given space for it looks like I guess