The Metropolitan Museum of Art may have reopened this past weekend—to the delight of New Yorkers who have made it through a summer devoid of the arts—but at this moment, most institutions in the United States remain shuttered due to COVID-19. If art galleries and museums are opening at all, they’re operating at a limited capacity; the dangers of gathering indoors for extended periods of time has been well documented—and renders these cultural spaces proverbial danger zones in a game of Floor Is Lava.
But this limitation has, in turn, created a demand for ways to experience the arts in different environments. As a result, a handful of exhibitions are now taking place outdoors, at some establishments which have never hosted a fully open-air exhibition before. Artists like Marina Abramovic, KAWS, and Hank Willis Thomas participated in a show that took place in the unlikely location of Rockefeller Center’s plaza in New York City—while others, like Jennie C. Jones and Eva LeWitt, are part of the Clark Art Institute’s first-ever entirely outdoor show in the Berkshires. Christie’s is hosting the sale “Dream Big,” which features only large-format sculptures and artworks made specifically to live outdoors. Even at South Etna gallery on Long Island, whose opening heralded the return of the IRL show, viewers hesitant to stand in an indoor public space were given the option of scanning some works from outside.
For some museums, hosting artists outdoors is nothing new. At Storm King in upstate New York, the undulating green hills, lines of conical trees, and endless sky interacts with the art—and such a lovely landscape brings in flocks of spectators, from families looking to give their city kids some space to run around to Instagram influencers seeking the perfect snapshot posing in front of Alyson Shotz’s Mirror Fence.
In Western Massachusetts, the Hudson, New York-based minimalist artist Jennie C. Jones is part of the group show at the Clark, called “Ground/work.” Although the museum has featured artists on its outdoor grounds in the past, it’s never held a full show outside. Like Tuttle, Jones’ experience making art that would live outdoors was a complete contrast from her usual work.
“I am a bit old-fashioned in the sense that I don’t have assistance, that my work is made with my hands,” she said. “I’m very insular, very private and so outdoor work or work that’s upscaled starts to demand having a team to work with. That was a new experience I definitely would like to do again.”
The “Ground/work” exhibition, which opens in fall, features all women artists, including Analia Saban, Haegue Yang, and Nairy Baghramian—and work that is “site-responsive,” in other words, reactive to the space around it. Jones’ pieces for “Ground/work”—long, curving walls that interact with the Tadao Ando Wing and resemble something of a miniature amphitheater—echo the look of her paintings. In a way, it allows the artist an expanded manner in which she can deliver her message.
“It also allowed the Clark to take the first step into working with contemporary art,” Jones added. “Outdoor sculpture has always been a public art game, for lack of a better word. It’s attached to a city budget or an institution wanting to commission a giant metal thing, usually made by a guy. And I’m glad to see that go away. I’m glad to see people being really mindful about choosing artists that were going to be more conceptual and more tender about the landscape.”
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