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Environmental Elementism

·	Who did what when

On a summer Saturday in 1967 and in the fall following, a group of artists presented two events in Central Park, NYC.

Willoughby Sharp directed the installations, which included:

·	Hans Haacke’s sky line arc, ·	Claes Oldenburg’s earth opening, ·	Richard Hogle’s sound board, ·	Chuck Ross’ sun relector, ·	Gilles Larraine’s inflatable, ·	John Van Saun’s floating bubbles, ·	Preston McClanahan’s signal flares, and ·	Willoughby Sharp’s melting ice blocks.

·	EE Described

The forms used were conditioned by the given exterior or interior space. The untraditional media were drawn from all possibilities. This demanded expertise and critical invention.

In an outside environment, a primary concern was to relate, add to and integrate the space visually, as well as to incorporate the natural forces.

The designated materials reacted with the surrounding natural elements and forces in terms of quantity and duration. Wind, sun, temperature, water,and fire operated as they would within these limits. We built on John Cage’s ideas of chance and randomness.

“It should be commonplace that esthetic understanding–as distinct from personal enjoyment-must start with the soil, air, and light out of which things esthetically admirable arise” John Dewey, Art as Experience.

Earlier precedents had been few. Herbert Bayer, the Bauhaus graphic designer, had realized earth forms in Aspen, ca. 1954. Allan Kaprow pioneered Happenings in the late 1950’s.

Willoughby Sharp’s essay for Rhobo, New York Report:Kinetic Environment, covered the Central Park events with the related international developments.

·	  Rationale

Environmental Elementalism has been credited as the bridge from Minamalism to Earth Works. Doors opened, extending possibilities to Earthworks, Performance, and the Site Specific movements after 1967.

The fact that we have a concept of art stands in the way of art’s permeating every aspect of our lives; seeing art on a universal level. The Balinese have a saying: “we have no art, we do everything the best way we can”. Should the only forum for “art” be art galleries and museums? To Prove the Fact of Existence, Preston McClanahan, Arts Magazine, 45:8:37,38,39, Summer 1971.

Has Environmental Elementism signaled a direction toward “art as experience”?

Later developments were prefigured by Environmental Elementalism.