Our landscape is 'Nobody's Property'

The latest exhibition at the University Art Museum, “Nobody’s Property,” explores the ways contemporary artists deal with the concepts of land and space. The exhibition features the work of seven artists and two artist teams from around the world who use a variety of mediums ranging from photography and video to performance and assemblage. While their work harkens back to the land artists of the late 1960s and early ’70s, such as Robert Smithson, these contemporary artists probe the economic, political and social conditions of land and space in the 21st century.

Because the show displays only a few large pieces, one can take the time to enjoy each without feeling overwhelmed. Every work is about land and space as it relates to modern life and human interaction, but each artist deals with these concepts in a unique way.

The opening piece, “Land Mark (Foot Prints),” by Puerto Rican artists Guillermo Calzadilla and Jennifer Allora, documents a performance that was also a civil disobedience campaign. In 2001 and 2002, activists trespassed onto a U.S. Navy bombing range in Puerto Rico wearing shoes with customized embossed soles. When they stepped onto the sand, they left imprints of words and images protesting the Navy’s presence on the island of Vieques. While each unique footprint speaks to a common goal, the variety of patterns and textures among them make the work into an almost abstract canvas, which is delightful for the viewer.

An interesting video installation by Francis Alys, “The Green Line: Sometimes Doing Something Poetic Can Become Political and Sometimes Doing Something Political Can Become Poetic,” shows the artist wandering through villages, historical landmarks and deserted landscapes, leaving a trail of green paint in his wake. The Green Line is a powerful and contested symbol in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict — it was originally an armistice line established in 1948 at the end of the Arab-Israeli War, and it later became the unofficial border separating Israel from the West Bank. Today its status is in question, as the boundaries it once designated seem to have been rendered obsolete by the barrier wall erected by Israel. The video is engaging and interactive because the viewer can select a wide range of commentaries to accompany the film.

The final piece in the show, “August 6th, 1945,” made by Matthew Day Jackson out of burned wood and lead, is a visually striking finale. The assemblage depicts the city of Dresden, Germany, after British and American forces completed their air bombing campaign in February 1945. Jackson connects the piece to the nuclear destruction of Hiroshima during World War II not only through its title — the date the bomb was dropped — but through his representation of the charred remains of the city from an aerial perspective. These images make us question whether we can consider such utter destruction — brought about by advances in science and technology — as social progress.

This small but thought-provoking exhibit raises issues about how we interact with the land we inhabit. Though at times slightly inaccessible and enigmatic — just like the societies on which the art is commenting — overall the exhibit showcases the use of art as social, historical and political commentary in dramatic and engaging ways.