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One Place after Another: Site-Specific Art and Locational Identity by Kwon, Miwon (2004) Paperback
A critical history of site-specific art since the late 1960s.
232 pages, Paperback
First published June 21, 2002
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790 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
June 23, 2014
Miwon Kwon writes:
It occurred to me some time ago that for many of my art and academic friends, the success and viability of one’s work are now measured by the accumulation of frequent flyer miles. The more we travel for work, the more we are called upon to provide institutions in other parts of the country and the world with our presence and services, the more we give in to the logic of nomadism, one could say, the more we are made to feel wanted, needed, validated and relevant. Our very sense of self-worth seems predicated more and more on our suffering through the inconveniences and psychic destabilizations of ungrounded transience, of not being at home (or not having a home), of always traveling through elsewheres. Whether we enjoy it or not, we are culturally and economically rewarded for enduring the “wrong” place. We are out of place all too often. Or, perhaps more accurately, the distinction between home and elsewhere, between “right” and “wrong” places, seems less and less relevant in the constitution of the self. […] But I remain unconvinced of the ways a model of meaning of interpretation is called forth to validate, even romanticize, the material and socioeconomic realities of an itinerant lifestyle. I am suspicious of this analogical transposition and the seductive allure of nomadism it supports, if for no other reason than the fact of my own personal ambivalence toward the physical and psychical experiences of mobilization and destabilization that such nomadism demands. To embrace such conditions is to leave oneself vulnerable to new terrors and dangers. At the very least, we have to acknowledge this vulnerability.
It occurred to me some time ago that for many of my art and academic friends, the success and viability of one’s work are now measured by the accumulation of frequent flyer miles. The more we travel for work, the more we are called upon to provide institutions in other parts of the country and the world with our presence and services, the more we give in to the logic of nomadism, one could say, the more we are made to feel wanted, needed, validated and relevant. Our very sense of self-worth seems predicated more and more on our suffering through the inconveniences and psychic destabilizations of ungrounded transience, of not being at home (or not having a home), of always traveling through elsewheres. Whether we enjoy it or not, we are culturally and economically rewarded for enduring the “wrong” place. We are out of place all too often. Or, perhaps more accurately, the distinction between home and elsewhere, between “right” and “wrong” places, seems less and less relevant in the constitution of the self. […] But I remain unconvinced of the ways a model of meaning of interpretation is called forth to validate, even romanticize, the material and socioeconomic realities of an itinerant lifestyle. I am suspicious of this analogical transposition and the seductive allure of nomadism it supports, if for no other reason than the fact of my own personal ambivalence toward the physical and psychical experiences of mobilization and destabilization that such nomadism demands. To embrace such conditions is to leave oneself vulnerable to new terrors and dangers. At the very least, we have to acknowledge this vulnerability.
August 24, 2015
Brilliant read on critiques on public and community art and how it has evolved from collaborations with architects and urban designers to "sited" collaborations with local communities. Offers some really strong institutional critiques from plural perspectives on how community identity is shaped on assumptions made apriori to the project. All of this builds to one of the more effective critiques on the "postmodern condition" wrapping Bourdieu as well as Deleuze & Guattari on how identity that's associated with no particular place and constructing a solid thesis from that.
September 20, 2012
If not for too verbose and lengthy critique of identity politics-community-based art of the early-to-mid 90s this book would be a gem. On the registers of polemics, theorization and historicity, Kwon is impeccable. In fact, half of the book was published almost verbatim in the journal October, Spring 1997 and all the important stuff (and engaging reading) is there.
January 9, 2008
Great history of the theory and practice of public art since the 1960's. Some people took offense at the omission of the Situationists, but I'm okay with it.
March 26, 2018
The only thing I am sure of after reading this book is that I am deeply provincial when it comes to art outside museum walls; how unaware I was of the wonderful world of site-specific art inside and outside gallery walls, filling the streets, local communities, and nature with content that challenges identities, builds relationships, expands a meaning of space, and in other ways affects or is affected by the locality.
In brief, it is a great introduction to site-specific art (though in many parts, still beyond my own reach). There are no taking sides in this book, just a research-based polemic on how the concept of site-specific art changed through years & different practices, which helps to navigate in this branch of the art world, while the relationship between location and identity gets only more complex and unstable.
In brief, it is a great introduction to site-specific art (though in many parts, still beyond my own reach). There are no taking sides in this book, just a research-based polemic on how the concept of site-specific art changed through years & different practices, which helps to navigate in this branch of the art world, while the relationship between location and identity gets only more complex and unstable.
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April 28, 2023a genealogy of how site-specificity developed into community-based art, and an incisive, timely critique of the latter’s reductive identity politics which tends to reify and commodify said communities rather than engaging in dialogue and effective social change; also touches on the relationship between public art, politics, subjectivity and place in the process
August 24, 2017
A thorough analysis of the evolution of site-specific art and art as community engagement up to the early 2000s, concluding with some excellent observations on place identity and the role of an artist in a community.
December 31, 2019
The rich history of the theory of site-specific and public artwork. Highly recommend for studying these subjects.
March 4, 2022
4.5 really. I loved the way this book breaks down site-specific art and how community plays a role in it.
November 8, 2022
Molto interessante ma troppo ripetitivo.
March 20, 2008
A good question:
"How do we account, for instance, for the sense of soaring exhilaration and the anxious dread ngendered by the new fluidities and continuities of space and time, on the one hand, and their ruptures and disconnections on the other? And what could this doubleness of experience mean in our lives?"
"How do we account, for instance, for the sense of soaring exhilaration and the anxious dread ngendered by the new fluidities and continuities of space and time, on the one hand, and their ruptures and disconnections on the other? And what could this doubleness of experience mean in our lives?"
February 4, 2008
This book was suggested to me as a primer on contemporary discussion of Public Art and though I found it informative, it certainly doesn't offer any new ideas in terms of how practice in the public sphere is changing for artists. Technology and the arts are almost wholey neglected and the book is annoyingly academic at times.
September 9, 2007
an excellent survey and theoretical analysis of site specific art.
December 21, 2007
it was terribly dry. so dry that i needed to drink a glass of water when i was done with it. it parched me, no one likes that.
the absence of christo was off-putting.
the absence of christo was off-putting.
December 31, 2015
Excellent coverage of key ideas and works relating to "locational identity".
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews