WAWWA: Site-specific Art

Term as given by Tate:

‘A site-specific work of art is designed for a specific location, if removed from that location it loses all or a substantial part of its meaning. The term site-specific is often used in relation to installation art, as in site-specific, and land art is site-specific almost by definition.’

To what extent is any/all art site-specific? Does a frame make an artwork site-specific in that it is meant for a wall? What art is not defined by site?

Does the site hold as much or even more meaning than the art- work/object? e.g. imagine everything within the walls of a given gallery placed on the ground of a carpark or a forest – how far is the meaning affected?

‘…land art is site-specific almost by definition.’ – What about when land is brought into a gallery space? – e.g. Robert Smithson

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