Works In Progress
and
In Conclusion
As a triannual exhibition, InSITE is inherently a work in progress,
with its next manifestation scheduled for 2000. Perhaps it is appropriate, then, that
InSITE97 should come to an end with two of its works also deemed "in progress."
Vito Acconci's "Island on the Fence" consists of a simple but pleasing shape
situated in the water at the very end of the border fence. Its form is mirrored by an
identical shape dug out of the land on the shore. The island element will appear to change
in size and shape; disappearing and reappearing as the tides and waves reveal more and
less of its mass.
However wonderful a thing it would be to see, the proposal faced a struggle to receive official approval; no doubt because its site is so politically sensitive and emotionally charged.
From the point of view of officialdom, it looked like what, in law, is called an "attractive nuisance."
The "attractive" aspects of the piece are evident from the sketch.
The "nuisance" aspects are what the U.S. Border Patrol perceives. They will have to keep track of who swims out to the island from their side of the fence, and thus is welcome to swim back; and who is on the island from the other side of the fence, and thus a potential illegal enterer. Adding to the challenge is the fact that few swimmers carry passports or other means of identification.
Like Louis Hock's fountain at this location, Acconci's proposal engages considerations that have nothing to do with the piece as a physical thing. It's the site that gives it added dimension and richness.
(As things currently stand, "Island on the Fence" is
scheduled to start construction in May, 1998)
David Avalos' site consists of a raised walkway that meanders through a nature
preserve that's surrounded by city. The walkway's worthy and important purpose is to serve
as an educational resource for children -- "a site for the study of poetry and visual
art, biology, ecology, and geography," according to the civic and private groups
behind the project's creation.
For his part, Avalos will help design the panels of text and image that will be placed at key points along the walkway. He will also develop a variety of thematically relevant decorative elements to embellish the walkways "architecture."
Significantly, Avalos' role here is quite unlike what he encounters in his studio. where he is responsible for every aspect and element of what he creates. Here, much of what people experience on the walkway will be the work of others -- engineers, ecologists, geographers, biologists, educators, etc. -- none of whom are artists.
Although artists working with and within pre-existing conditions is the central idea of InSITE, this is an altogether different situation because the walkway had no prior existence. So the opportunity was there to engage with art from the beginning.
Avalos, a powerful artist who is well versed in the complexities of collaborative efforts, is quite capable of leading a project like this from its beginnings, rather than being brought in at the end to provide an artistic touch.
If that touch had been part of the project's evolution from the first, the entire outcome might have been "art," rather than something with art on it.
The absense of this thought in the minds of the walkway's originators demonstrates the breadth of the gulf that separates "the real world" from "the art world," and from what art is capable of at the end of the 20th Century.
Bridging this gulf, or trying to, is InSITE's most important work.