Master of Arts Thesis Abstract

The Digital Representation of Monumental Earthworks in the American West

Beginning in the late sixties, American artists turned to a new medium that until then had not been a medium at all but rather a theme—landscape. Land artists often favored the West for its sheer vastness, given that “the essence of land art” is isolation, as Walter De Maria noted in his well-known essay on the subject for Artforum in 1980, an assessment with which no major land artist could find reason to disagree. Like all major land artists, De Maria not only chose to place his work in vast spaces, but also attempted to increase the feeling of radical isolation by prohibiting exposure to his work such that public accessibility became nearly impossible. His best-known project The Lightning Field (1977) placed restrictions on everything from the number of viewers, the time visitors were allowed to spend with the piece, their mode of transportation, and their documentation of the experience, all in a bid to increase isolation and decrease accessibility. As New York Times architecture critic Michael Kimmelman notes, land art is comparable to pilgrimage. It eschews ease and accessibility on principle. In this thesis, I explore the ways in which this major principle of land art has been changed, and, I argue, undermined by new and emerging technologies that have significantly changed our understanding not only of accessibility but also of site-specificity, entropy, experience, commodification, community, and self-determination. Whereas companies like Google and Instagram provide digital access to land art, making it viewable free to anyone through satellite images and Photo Spheres, they also, arguably, disallow the full experience of this body of work by reducing it to a merely visual phenomenon, radically flattening it in the process. In some cases, they actually alter the work entirely and the artist’s detailed instructions as to how the work should be experienced. Calling on Walter Benjamin, Jean Baudrillard, and Paul Virilio as interlocutors, I offer a critique of the relation of art, nature, and technology in the digital age through the lens of land art. Examining the work of five land artists of the 1960s and 1970s, I explore contemporary tensions obtaining between isolation and accessibility, a predicament significantly not restricted to the domain of land art or, indeed, to art in general.

THEME: Together, We Are More Than Pink!

Bring out the Heart, Authenticity, Inspiration, Hope

• Gather as a community

• Celebrate survivors and fighters

• Pay tribute to those we’ve lost

• Raise funds for the needed services in our region

7:00 AM - Waterfront Park opens to the public

7:00 AM - Music by begins throughout the park

……………………………….START LINE [riser area]……………………………….

7:15 AM ANNOUNCEMENTS AND EMCEE REMARKS – JANINE WOLF AND JENNIFER HOFF (always OK to put in your own words, of course)

JANINE: Welcome to Portland’s annual Race for the Cure!

I’m Janine Wolf and you may know me from the K103 morning show and I’m joined this year by Jennifer Hoff, anchor and reporter with KOIN6. We’re at the Start Line right now on Natio by the big pink arch.

JENNIFER: Hi everyone. This is my fourth year being a part of this event and I’m so excited to be here! There are thousands registered, and even more people are showing up today. Absolutely incredible!

JENNIFER: Here’s a highlight of today’s events …

• 8:00am - Zumba warm up at the Main Stage

• 8:50am - Survivor and Forever Fighter Tribute at the Start Line

• 9:00am - 5k Fun Run

• 9:15am - 5k Walk

• 9:45am - 1-Mile Family Walk

You can also find the schedule on the back of your Registration Bib.

We also have Bustos Enrique Caizero to help us with some bilingual announcements.

7:30 AM - KUNP (In Spanish) Thank you for joining us today! If you haven’t picked up your t-shirt or race bib yet, the Registration Tent is just South of the Morrison Bridge OR if you still need to sign up, head over there. Will call is over in that direction, too.

Here’s a highlight of today’s events …

8:00am - Zumba warm up at the Main Stage

8:50am - Survivor and Forever Fighter Tribute at the Start Line

9:00am - 5k Fun Run

9:15am - 5k Walk

9:45am - 1-Mile Family Walk

You can also find the schedule on the back of your Registration Bib

7:35 AM JANINE: What a great morning! Such a beautiful fall day, and the enthusiasm leading up to race has been contagious.

You know, Susan G. Komen has races all over the country and we have the largest race in the Northwest. That just shows the strength of this community and I’m reminded again that we live in a fantastic place.