Arte Povera and Land Art: Materiality, Site and Artists

Arte Povera: Concept and Materials

Povera (from Italian "povera" = poor) is a type of easily obtainable conceptual-material practice. It is a reflection on the relations between the material object and its process of industrialization (fabricación, rechazo). From the welfare state after WWII, increased production and low consumption meant that many social classes became incorporated into consumerism. Counterculture movements became shows of discontent, rebellion and resistance to a culture that felt subdued. Neo-Dadaism and minimal pop art movements appeared as part of this context; Neo-Dadaism (J. Dim background) and minimalism were influential. Arte Povera (C. Andre, Morris) proposes two concepts: the unconscious/mental and the use of some physical materials submitted as materiales. These works are antiform: what matters is not the form but the new relationship with valued materials. Industrial raw materials and natural materials are employed as a critique of consumerist society and the commodification of artistic material. The object is the protagonist of the work and stands far from the denomination of "beautiful" or exquisitely articulated works. These concerns are significant at the level of the physical and plastic properties of materials, in the processing, and in the ratio of assembly and juxtaposition.

G. Paolini, J. Kounellis, Mario Merz, L. Welter, R. Serra, Joseph Beuys.

Land Art and Environmental Practice

Land Art is art made with the landscape and represents the culmination of environmental tendencies related to Arte Povera. New environments and landscape dimensions act as a plastic field to develop works in situ and non-transportable ephemeral works. This raised the problem of how to display such works in museums and art galleries: the works carried out in the landscape were not transportable and were ephemeral. The idea of the exhibition marked the first reaction to the problem of presentation. The gallery as a place of contemplation of the construction documents. Integration into the environment is the most marked characteristic of Land Art. The works are designed for a particular site and remain there. Their creation involves the modification of surfaces and materials of the place, which then sticks in the memory of the site. To support these artists, gallery projects were funded rather than buying expensive works; this remained in model q Walter De Maria, Nancy Holt, James Turrell, Robert Smithson, Andy Goldsworthy, Christo and Jeanne-Claude