Page 127 - Hrobat Virloget, Katja, et al., eds. (2015). Stone narratives: heritage, mobility, performance. University of Primorska Press, Koper.
P. 127
“wanna walk under the rock?”: land art, time, and tourist passages
Rock to City
As I went walking I saw a sign there
And on the sign it said »No Trespassing.«
But on the other side it didn’t say nothing,
That side was made for you and me.
Woody Guthrie
On July 10, 2015, USA president Barack Obama issued a proclamation under the Antiqui-
ties Act, to create a Basin and Range national monument, which includes Heizer’s life pro-
ject City thus at least for the time being protecting it from the controversial plans to open
nuclear waste repository nearby.
The proclamation describes and the area as an iconic American landscape and Heizer’s
work as a monumental piece of art that needs to be preserved in order to be experienced as
an example of an American land art.
It is also stated in the proclamation that the LACMA holds a conservation easement
over the area and that it plans to donate the easement to the USA upon the completion of
the artwork.
Until then, the notice that this is a private property and all potential trespassers will
be prosecuted remains standing at the entrance. City is not opened yet.
Post scriptum: Berlin A–Z.
Back on the other side of the ocean I’ve only just missed »O«, as in »Ort« (site), part of
»MNO« installation that included Heizer’s 1969 drawing of Levitated Mass of the Mar-
zona collection. The exhibition A–Z in Hamburger Bahnhof – Museum für Gegenwart in
Berlin changes the content of the exhibition every three months. A started with Arte po-
vera, an important influence in land art and it will progress to Z during two years. I was
tempted to ask the curators to let me see the drawing but decided against it when learned
that eventually the whole Marzona collection will be on display. Working through the of-
fered archive of the exhibition (Figure 8, 9) I have had an opportunity to (re)read the writ-
ten records of Heizer’s work, experiencing that strange dialogue with a person who was re-
ading the files before me and underline them in red. Thinking about Heizer’s work in the
context of this Berlin museum with the exhibition of Joseph Beuys in the room nearby ra-
ised the question of the importance of the whole process involved in an artwork. Marzo-
na firmly believes that documents are integral part of the artwork and are at times art itself
(while Benjamin disagrees) particularly in form of postcards and letters. Personally, I rema-
in in two minds on the subject.
Upon leaving the museum, I opt to sit in its quiet front garden to let images from the
exhibitions float, swirl, settle, while I drift into familiar people watching. A toddler is dis-
placing the soil around the plants (early earth artist), her father catching her before she can
hit the ground every time, on the bench to the left a couple is engaged in a low key conversa-
tion that I easily tune out, on the opposite side a German speaking family is eating sandwi-
ches and consulting a map, while the most striking figure in the garden, a young girl dressed
entirely in black is lying flat on the white concrete wall at the entrance completely absorbed
in a book, balanced, motionless. A few people are coming out of the museum, some going in,
others turning towards cafeteria, all perfectly unrushed, so Berlin-like, unhurried intensi-
125
Rock to City
As I went walking I saw a sign there
And on the sign it said »No Trespassing.«
But on the other side it didn’t say nothing,
That side was made for you and me.
Woody Guthrie
On July 10, 2015, USA president Barack Obama issued a proclamation under the Antiqui-
ties Act, to create a Basin and Range national monument, which includes Heizer’s life pro-
ject City thus at least for the time being protecting it from the controversial plans to open
nuclear waste repository nearby.
The proclamation describes and the area as an iconic American landscape and Heizer’s
work as a monumental piece of art that needs to be preserved in order to be experienced as
an example of an American land art.
It is also stated in the proclamation that the LACMA holds a conservation easement
over the area and that it plans to donate the easement to the USA upon the completion of
the artwork.
Until then, the notice that this is a private property and all potential trespassers will
be prosecuted remains standing at the entrance. City is not opened yet.
Post scriptum: Berlin A–Z.
Back on the other side of the ocean I’ve only just missed »O«, as in »Ort« (site), part of
»MNO« installation that included Heizer’s 1969 drawing of Levitated Mass of the Mar-
zona collection. The exhibition A–Z in Hamburger Bahnhof – Museum für Gegenwart in
Berlin changes the content of the exhibition every three months. A started with Arte po-
vera, an important influence in land art and it will progress to Z during two years. I was
tempted to ask the curators to let me see the drawing but decided against it when learned
that eventually the whole Marzona collection will be on display. Working through the of-
fered archive of the exhibition (Figure 8, 9) I have had an opportunity to (re)read the writ-
ten records of Heizer’s work, experiencing that strange dialogue with a person who was re-
ading the files before me and underline them in red. Thinking about Heizer’s work in the
context of this Berlin museum with the exhibition of Joseph Beuys in the room nearby ra-
ised the question of the importance of the whole process involved in an artwork. Marzo-
na firmly believes that documents are integral part of the artwork and are at times art itself
(while Benjamin disagrees) particularly in form of postcards and letters. Personally, I rema-
in in two minds on the subject.
Upon leaving the museum, I opt to sit in its quiet front garden to let images from the
exhibitions float, swirl, settle, while I drift into familiar people watching. A toddler is dis-
placing the soil around the plants (early earth artist), her father catching her before she can
hit the ground every time, on the bench to the left a couple is engaged in a low key conversa-
tion that I easily tune out, on the opposite side a German speaking family is eating sandwi-
ches and consulting a map, while the most striking figure in the garden, a young girl dressed
entirely in black is lying flat on the white concrete wall at the entrance completely absorbed
in a book, balanced, motionless. A few people are coming out of the museum, some going in,
others turning towards cafeteria, all perfectly unrushed, so Berlin-like, unhurried intensi-
125
