(Following text refers mainly to the 1999 work)
These photographic diptychs excite me – I think its the linking of the two hugely distant locations. To me they evoke travel, exploration, escapism and the potential to track down specific, nondescript locations.
Each sign describes the location of the corresponding site. The final sentence of both signs reads: ‘Situated here, in this place, is a sign which describes the location of this sign you have just finished reading.’
Chodzko uses the tautological language of 1960s Conceptual Art – text, instruction to perform/create, self-referential and conceptually self-contained. He also employs site, relatively huge scale, a level of exploration, possibility, and level of imagination not typically found in analytical conceptualism.
It’s a seemingly simple instruction but realistically difficult/complex execution.
The two landscapes represent opposite extremes: ‘one conveys the bustling of urban life, the other the unchanging stillness of the desert.’ The wind-chimes are there to emphasise this contrast – the only sounds in one site and barely audible in the other. The contrasting economies of the sites are signified by how the signs are installed: cemented into the pavement versus dug into the bare earth of the desert. The sign in London was taken down not long after installation after the wind-chimes were stolen, while I’m unsure whether the desert sign is still standing.
I tried looking for the 1999 signs on google maps.
After doing this I went on to read that the car park sign was removed not too long after installation, having had the wind chimes stolen (I assume the artist thought it no longer worked). I don’t know if the desert sign is still there today. Was thinking this could be some kind of follow-up work as google maps (launched in 2005) didn’t exist at the time the works were made.
Following directions of the car park sign I tried to locate the site in Arizona, although I quickly got lost trying to find route 510. I then used the landmarks described to find the general location of the sign (looked for a rectangular shadow), taking screenshots as I went.
The title implies that whichever landscape you’re in, the sign you’re reading describes a more desirable location. For those living in the polluted, busy city environment the Western fantasy of the Arizona desert may be more appealing, and vice versa.
‘Even if we were to visit both sites, Chodzko displaces experience with memory and imagination by asking us to remember or imagine the other location even while we are experiencing the place we are standing in.’
‘Exhibited in a gallery or museum setting the photographs are experienced at one further remove from the scene they depict.’
Allusions to art historical genres: 1960s conceptual art, landscape painting, land art
Landscape painting – overlaying of multiple landscapes linguistically and visually – this is a strategy used in Robert Smithson’s ‘Displacement’ works – mirrors placed in a landscape, photos taken of the arrangements, photos exhibited in a gallery, accompanied by a map detailing where the photos were taken. – SOMETHING TO TRY
Land Art – he located the Arizona sign in sight of James Turrell’s Roden Crater, an extinct volcano Turrell has been reshaping since the mid-70s
Reading the text I lose interest/excitement for the work – the locations indicated by the photo, the distance between them and the idea of the artwork are what interest/excite me. It seems to be an artwork that might be more interesting to discover online than in a gallery (feel like I’d glance through the text and caption and think ‘Oh that’s interesting’ then move on). If I’m to take from this maybe it should be from the process and the potential for physical participation/exploration.
WAWWA – WIWT (Wish I Was There) – WYWH (Wish You Were Here) – Get microsoft sam, samsung equivalent to say them
https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/chodzko-better-scenery-p78530
calummartin 