NECESSARY DEFINITIONS...

PROCESS

• as Morris originally used, works which reveal the process by which they are made
• means more important than ends
• artists sets process in motion and awaits results
• unstable materials which slowly decompose
• antecedents = Pollock's pourings and Frankenthaler's stainings
• minimalism is crucial catalystÉ artists react to impersonality and formalism
• use materials like ice, water, grass, wax, felt
• make "site specific"
• create process over immutable art object, experience for its own sake, nonprecious works É no allure for art market.

PERFORMANCE

• open-ended term, rejected for its theatrical implications until the 1970s
• since late 70s most popular term for art activities presented before a live audience and that encompass music, dance, poetry, theater, video etc. (second generation performances can often now be seen on film)
• retroactively applied to body art, happenings, fluxus, feminist art
• conceptual activity in galleries or outdoor sites -more direct communication with viewers (than the traditional "theater" performance)
• inspired by Dada events
• might last a few minutes to several days but rarely intended to be repeated

EARTH ART / EARTHWORKS / LAND ART

• late 60s, result of dissatisfaction with simple undetailed forms of minimal art
• disenchantment with sophisticated technology of an industrial culture
• land not site providing environment but land itself fashioned into art
• conceptual in a sense, generally unsuitable for exhibition in gallery except for photographs (Smithson's Non-Sites are exception)

SITE ART / SITE-SPECIFIC ART

• generally means art designed (and/or installed and/or performed) for a specific site (or location)
• "plop" art (derogatory term for sculptures commissioned for large outdoor plazas)
• public art -- programs: NEA art in public places, Percent-for-Art
• dissolving of lines between sculpture and architecture (ex. Tilted Arc, Vietnam War Memorial)

INSTALLATION

• comes into vogue in 1970s
• vs. an "assemblage" (which you walk around), an "installation" is an environment (which you can walk in) constructed in a gallery specifically for a particular exhibition.

ENVIRONMENTS/ENVIRONMENTAL ART

• 3D space pre-programmed or mechanically energized in order to enclose the spectator and involve them in sensory stimulation (might be kinetic, visual, auditory, tactile, olfactory)
• sometimes uses sensory overload to disorient senses
• viewer walks in, is enveloped, perhaps manipulated
• sometimes confused (don't do this!!!) with Earth Art (NOT THE SAME THING!)

HAPPENINGS

• Allan Kaprow coins the term, which is quite vague when used to describe diverse and contrived artistic phenomena (generally used to describe spontaneous, plotless theatrical events)
• rejection of craftsmanship, rejection of permanence
• spectator participation, artist acts as "director"
• genuine event related to performance art, but might not be restricted to a gallery or other site.
• used by Fluxus group
• can see as fusing art and life; return to childhood in a sense.