the relativity of site, alexis fidetzis. 2012

7/27/2019 The Relativity of Site, Alexis Fidetzis. 2012

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The relativity of site

An investigation on the notion of site specificity in the age of

globalization, approached through the art of Mark Bradford.

Alexios Panagiotis Fidetzis


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. 1

Alexios Panagiotis Fidetzis

12/11/2012

The Relativity of site

In his essay "The functional site or the transformation of the site specificity", James Mayer

argues about the distinction between two notions of site specific artworks. He describes those two

types as the literal and the functional site. What defines the literal site, is that the work that

functions within, reacts formally with the components of the site, affecting the elements of the

public space. On the other hand, the functional site is described as the potential found in the

dialogue between the site that is implied by the artist and the viewer. The functional site does not

necessarily use on actual space. The space is narrated in the work, as the work carries some of the

spaces notions. Both versions of the site, are being formed and defined by the actual space;

although, in contrast to the literal site, the works concerned with the functional site become an

ongoing process, as they are in flux, depending on its different surroundings. The changes that

may occur, are reflections of the public's background. This productive relation to the public has a

natural consequence: the engagement of the functional site with the surrounding community.

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This productive relation to the public, is what makes obvious, that the functional site is

engaging with the shrouding community much more than the literal site. This comes consequently

as it is not forced, in both literal and aesthetic perception of the members of the community- the

way for example a work of Richard Serra, operates with the literal site. The functional approach

on the site, is open as a negotiable, by the community, artistic statement.

In this content of the functional site, it is engaging to approach a line of work, created in

post-World War II Europe; the elements of which are contemporary in our time, and are being

used by the artist of this era. The Decollage movement, was formed in Paris in the late 40s,

creating a rebellious subject, an artistic agent with aspirations to intervene in public space. The

fact that as Benjamin Buchloh states in this essay " From detail to Fragment: The Decollage

Aficheste ", those practices followed by the movement, fail in the quest of becoming a radical

revolutionary statement, does not undermine the gesture of creation as an outcome of destruction.

The collage and decollage techniques, which manipulated the commercial posters (which took the

place of the propaganda posters of the Nazi occupation in Paris) formed an aesthetic spectrum,

directly linked to the public domain. This form of aesthetic, pointed out the common need for

regeneration after a devastation; such as the one caused in Europe after the war, in every level of

social grid -political, financial, ideological.


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But how do those two notions, the one of site specificity and decollage, relate to the practice of one

of the most celebrated American visual artists of our time. The fascinating visual situations created

by Marc Bradford, manage to save an abstract approach on painting from an eminent extinction.

That is generated by the incorporation of the aforementioned components into his artworks.

Bradford is extremely interested in the city, and how the visual accidents found in the

regions of the urban cityscape where the borders of the law are stretched. He appreciates the way

those accidents reflect the transformations occurring in the city, as the informal forms of economy

leave their trace in the public space. In his large scale collages, he incorporates images created by

the practice of everyday life, by peoples needs, as he collects paper from sites in the streets of

Los Angeles. The posters become the creative elements of his two-dimensional works and hold

their commercial value along with their need of exposure and vanity; components of the necessity

that he is searching for. Even if the use of techniques reminds to the viewer the art of Decollage (

a movement that the LA based artist considers to be extremely influential to him ) in the works of

Bradford, except of his interest for the aesthetic situations created by the combination of

commercial culture and destruction, a dominant component is the involvement with the notion of

site, place or location, and the process of creating an artwork out of the fractures of a specific

urban site.


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Fidetzis 4

In this context, Bradford works come as a result of his involvement with specific components of a

precise environment, this body of work can be seen as a site specific project.

A fascinating turn though, result of external factors, completely transforms the work of

Mark Bradford in the eyes of the viewer, unfamiliar to the site that the artist is implying. The

homogenization of the urban landscape in a global scale, makes the international viewer familiar

with the elements of the works. A result of globalization of commercial culture, practices and

aesthetics, as a parallel to the Internet-based expansion of street art and graffiti movement, the

Metropolises of the world have managed to form in our days, an aesthetic identity of great and

fascinating similarity. The cultural imperialism forced by dominant economies created something

that was never predicted. The homogenization of commercialism and the visual spectacle that

follows, was something articulated. But the unexpected turn, lied on the same gray area where

Bradford's work also wonders: the in between areas of legality. The places where imagery is

created out of necessity and the parts of commercial culture which are being incorporated within

that frame. As the artist states, in the interview "We might as well be brave" with Hamza Walker:

"merchants posters are straight urgency". The elements of the imagery forced by the dominant

status would still exist; but only those that, both visually and conceptually, are incorporated by

the public would keep their space and influence. It is important to note though, that even if the

works of Bradford can be read in global scale


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Fidetzis 5

by this interesting turn of events, the global similarity of communal urban aesthetics that created

the aforementioned spectacle, it does not lose its site specificity. What actually happens and is

understandable by the public through the reading of his art, is that a new notion of site specificity

occurred.

These works managed to be internationally site specific.

What happens though, when an artwork, which carries the aforementioned components,

steps away from any urban environment where the clash of dominant and informal culture

creates an interesting visual and socio-political dialog and enters the frame of a devastated

community? What happens when the space loses all affiliations to the outside world of the

dominant status quo, and members of such society can only resemble to archetypal forms? Mark

Bradford came to New Orleans to participate in the project "Prospect 1", a Biennale-scaled

international exhibition, envisioned and organized by contemporary art curator Dan Cameron.

Engineered by a need of the local artistic community to play a part in the post-Katrina

development of the city. The exhibition did finally ran from November 2008 to January 2009.

The question for the artist when he got introduced to the site of the catastrophe, was how to

approach something so full of energy in its lack of vitality, and at the same time being both

engaging and respectful. At first he started wondering around the Lower 9th Ward, an area of the

city which came to national attention after its devastation in the aftermath of the hurricane.


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Fidetzis 7

Trying to consume the site and its components, the artist started engaging with the local

community by organising a fund raising auction, where he sold his work and donated the money

to a non profit artist ran organisation called "L9", which focused on founding a cultural center in

the area. By engaging with community during the task of raising money, he created personal

relations which led to the question : " where is the art that you told us that you would do? ". So

even if a social practise made much more sense in the context of Lower 9th Ward, a political

gesture could also be made, by the material that he would use. This began the construction of

"Mithra " a large scale sculpture/ installation of a wooden ark. What is fascinating about this work

is that every aspect of the construction, site, shape, material and exhibition, creates several layers

of meaning within the frame of the L9W. Firstly the exact site that he chose between the

countless empty lots of L9W, was one that used to host a destructed funeral parlor.

The lot was chosen for several reasons.The obvious one, the fact that it used to be a site

of mourning and hope at the same time, played a significant role as a metaphor of Bradford's

effort to contribute in the regeneration of the area. It is also important to note that the location of

the lot served another function. This space was the highest ground in the area, so the installation

could be seen from a long distance. This way, it became a destination for the community. It was

also in a visual distance from the Claiborne Avenue bridge. This bridge played a symbolic role

after the days of the hurricane, as it was out of service for months, raised in the position cutting

the road out of the L9W.


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.Fidetzis 8

When completed, the ark was facing the bridge, in a form of judgment. The two large constructions

engaged in a dialog. Two creations of human, one which points out how the center failed the

community, and the other which aimed to become a monument of communal regeneration.

The construction process of the installation was not indifferent either. Bradford, in his

effort to contribute in the local economy, employed local labor workers, whose business

opportunities where limited after the destruction of the area. This gesture was significant for the

artist's effort to transform his artwork into a communal sustainability project. Returning to the

relation the artist has -throughout the grid of his practice- with the origin of his material, it is a

matter of major importance to note that the hardware used for the construction ofMithra were

shipped from L.A. The wooden planks that formed the body of the ark, the posters and the

shipping containers, served a purpose of both construction and concept. Bradford informs the

public in his talk in the Walker Art Center, that, much of the damage in the L9W caused by the

hurricane, occurred when shipping containers stocked at the nearby docs, drifted by waters of the

overflowing river, destroyed many houses in their path. As similar containers were used by the

authorities in order to provide shelter for the people who have lost their homes, the container as an

object was embedded in the local memory as an element of both destruction and rebuilt .


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Fidetzis 9

Around the containers, Bradford built the body of the ark with wooden panels. On one

side of the ship, a piece of wood looked like it was missing, displaying the containers to the

public. This move, made obvious the volition of the artist to use these containers, not only as

functional construction elements but also as a part of the work's conceptual components. Bradford

covered the wooden sides of the sculpture with posters, like the ones he uses in his two

dimensional works, in an attempt to incorporate his visual vocabulary. This decision gives us a

hint towards answering the aforementioned question about the reevaluation of site specificity in a

devastated region. It is important to mention that, as the artist's concern revolved around the

community, the " vernissage" had its own meaning. Bradford's approach on an opening of Mithra

could be described as a neighborhood block party. During the party the artist cooked and offered

food to the community. This motion shows how meaningful was for the artist to engage with the

locals and provide something to community in need. His reward was that after a while, he would

be identified by the locals as "the ark man", a nickname which was assigned as it showed how the

work and the artist's presence made a mark. The block party took place before the opening of

prospects one, as Bradford wanted it all to be seen not just in the context of an art practice but

also in the premises of the damaged community.

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Fidetzis 10

To go back to the context of side specificity, Bradford's vocabulary in the L9W, leads us to

a groundbreaking discovery about the notion of the functional site. As stated before, the material

of use, manage to create a kind of international site when the works are seen inside the borders of

a metropolis. The ruins of a post-modern city that works as a manifestation of place has a different

function in post-Katrina New Orleans. In Los Angeles Bradford creates work by using what is

given by both the dominant advertising methods and the subcultures of the disregarded

communities. But in a site, where the dominant social structures, failed to protect the community,

and are still stalling to rebuilt it, these elements of commercial exposure, become irrelevant. They

are seen as fragments of another era, as ruins that manifest collective memory of, how this

community was abundant. In the L9W the Ramones do not represent o symbol of social teenage

rebellion anymore; they become homogenised with man, the same way Danzel Washington is not

anymore a role model for black youth. The symbols on Mythra can be seen as a mockery of

social clashes that in front of an Apocalypse look like they have been overrated. Everything

becomes part of the aesthetics of destruction.


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. Fidetzis 11

In conclusion, the work of Mark Bradford manages to react in several levels with the

concept of site specificity. It works with both the literal and the functional site and at the same time

succeeds to escape the notion of the "international" site which the artist has developed in the rest of

his practice. The way the artist approached the work,in relation to the community, hand in hand

with the actual piece and the conceptual aspects of it created a strong political statement, about a

site who is in need of intellectual support. And, while the establishment of a large exhibition, such

asProspect New Orleans, points out the necessity of this support, Bradford's approach shows a

powerful yet respectful way of engaging with this necessity. The whole project can be described as

a success bacause of the impact it had on the naighbourhood. For the artist himself the feeling of

rebirth that was constructed in the area was an establishment of his engagement and a proof of his

presence in the site.


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. Fidetzis 12 Bibliography

Buchloh,Benjamin. From detail to fragment: Decollage Afficheste , MIT Press, October 56 Spring

1991

Lewis, Sarah. The evidence of things unseen, Published in conjunction with the exhibition

Street Level, Duke University Press 2007

Meyer, James . The functional Site; or, The Transformation of Site specificity, University of Minnesota

Press, 2000

Brown, Kathryn. The Artist as Urban Geographer: Mark Bradford and Julie Mehretu, The

University of Chicago Press, Fall 2010

Bedford, Cristopher. Hamza Walker. Hilton Als and Robert Storr. Mark Bradford. Waxner

Center for the Arts. 2010

Foster, Trevor. Neither New nor Correct: New Work by Mark Bradford. Whitney Museum of American

Art. 2007

Gaines, Malik. Merchant Posters. Aspen Art Press. 2010

Artist Talk:Mark Bradford, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, 2009


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(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEGqebgFPu4& li st=F L xZ03a8lk_4ZL WW_4OZl5ag& ind

ex=7)

Images

1.Mark Bradford, in front of the Northwestern side ofMithra
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEGqebgFPu4&list=FLxZ03a8lk_4ZLWW_4OZl5ag&index=7http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEGqebgFPu4&list=FLxZ03a8lk_4ZLWW_4OZl5ag&index=7http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEGqebgFPu4&list=FLxZ03a8lk_4ZLWW_4OZl5ag&index=7http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEGqebgFPu4&list=FLxZ03a8lk_4ZLWW_4OZl5ag&index=7http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEGqebgFPu4&list=FLxZ03a8lk_4ZLWW_4OZl5ag&index=7http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEGqebgFPu4&list=FLxZ03a8lk_4ZLWW_4OZl5ag&index=7http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEGqebgFPu4&list=FLxZ03a8lk_4ZLWW_4OZl5ag&index=7http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEGqebgFPu4&list=FLxZ03a8lk_4ZLWW_4OZl5ag&index=7


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2.The Southwestern side of the ark.

3.The Western side.

the relativity of site, alexis fidetzis. 2012

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