Conceptual: Framing Site Specific Art.

Upon reading Genealogy of Site Specificity, what first came to mind was the Statue of Liberty. As beautiful and massive as the sculpture is, a portion of its beauty can be contributed to it's placement. Historically, this sculpture is one of the first sights of millions of immigrants arriving to the shore's of the United States pursuing the liberation and freedom that the sculpture defines. To place it elsewhere would devalue it's purpose, or even change it's concept. I do believe the setting in which art is becomes the frame work of the piece. We interpret art based from its own history, our knowledge of it's style and it's cultural context. In a sense I do agree to the statement in this article "If you have to change a sculpture for a site there is something wrong with the sculpture." Although I also believe there are chameleon type art such as those that tend towards abstract that embodies different meanings as their placement changes. There are those traveling exhibits that take sculptures and paintings from their place of birth into galleries unalike. In these cases I don't think the work itself is so much altered but the environment is tampered with to meet the needs of the art. Lighting arrangements , specific placement of the work, or setting in an open or enclosed space are a few gallery adjustments to suit a piece. The viewer as well offers a certain aspect to the completion of the work relying on their opinions or relationship to the piece.

The article mentioned, "institutional framing of art, in other words, not only distinguishes qualitative value: it also reproduces specific forms of knowledge that are historically located and culturally determined." I'm reminded of visiting the Eiffle Tower and how it was the centerpiece of a city designed symmetrically. It's iconology alone almost demands it's presence in Paris and no place other. It's both devaluing and humoring to know there's a Paris, Texas with a cheap rip-off of an architectural phenomenon. ( I think I might have to visit there as well.) There is a physical upkeep of site specific art that does contribute to the value of a piece. This article gave an example of a performance involving keeping the stalk white setting of a gallery stalk white. Artist Mierle Laderman Ukeles does maintenance on her hands and knees cleaning a museum that takes on a hierarchical role in her concept of labor relations versus the pristine settings of art. So to take the quote from Robert Barry "to remove work is to destroy the work" in many instances is very much true. Although because an environment is not ageless there is a continuous upkeep of a piece surroundings, so that the piece maintains it's same effect.