Sculpture "Solar Heart" Odesa, 2017. Author A. Liubov
“Art should be much more open, capable of discussion”
curator of the Venice Biennale 2019, Ralph Rugoff
Art on the seashore
Seas and oceans make up about 70% of the Earth’s surface. Land Art decorates fields and parks, although the shores of the coastal countries look almost the same in all parts of the planet.
Sandy or rocky beaches and rescue towers that sometimes stand – with these words, it’s possible to describe the coasts of Spain, the USA, India, Ukraine, and Brazil.
Millions of people plunge into the sea, come ashore, and at best, are greeted by beach shops and cafes. However, the beach is an ideal place for an open-air modern art gallery. First, because the audience is already gathered and will gladly engage with any visual art object that catches their eye. Second, the meeting point of land and sea offers a vivid opportunity to raise and discuss issues that concern both artists and society. Ecology, freedom, war, the value of human life – these are just a few of the topics that can be conveyed through art objects, allowing a large audience to reflect on them.
Since 2010, initially in the coastal area of the Odesa region in Zatoka, and later on the beaches of Odesa, installations made of wood, swimming equipment, ready-made objects, and light metal structures began to appear. Each of these carried a message about social issues that concerned the artists that created them. In the late 1960s, the Land Art movement emerged in the U.S. In 1971, Robert Smithson created the “Spiral Jetty” in the U.S., which was classified as land art, eventhough it was an artificial object placed in water.
Coastal art prioritizes the sea over the land and explores the influence and interaction of waterbodies with human activity. The beach area is seen as an alternative to the grand galleries and museums, being inherently more accessible and democratic for art contemplation.
Currently, the Odesa region is a relatively safe maritime region of Ukraine, with a coastline of more than 300km.
Black Sea Public Art (BSPA) is a global brand of site-specific art, which can be located anywhere in the world, but in the coastal strip.
Sea Public Art is a part of public art and a certain opposite of land art, including the performative component, which includes happenings, actions and performances, that take place on the seashore.
As of today, we, the public organization “Art-workshop “Bloom” together with the Museum of Modern Art of Odesa, are engaged in the documentation and inventory of all sculptures, installations, performances, happenings and other activities related to this direction. We are working together with the Odesa State Environmental Faculty on the coverage of environmental issues in the basin of the Black Sea.
I am confident that the development of coastal art (BSPA) will lay the cultural foundation for Ukrainians for many years to come, providing an opportunity to merge local and global art trends and allowing us to represent our country with dignity in the global cultural scene.
The project “Public Art: Revival After the War” is implemented with the support and funding from Pen-American. It was presented at the British Council and House of Europe training at the “Implementation of Public Art in Ukraine” presentation in 2022.
https://www.bloomart.com.ua/art-review-ua/.
*Public art is art in any media whose form, function and meaning are created for the general public through a public process. It is a specific art genre with its own professional and critical discourse. Public art is visually and physically accessible to the public; it is installed in public spaces in both outdoor and indoor settings. (Wikipedia)
Reference list:
- “Art Since 1900: Modernism, Antimodernism, Postmodernism” by Yve-Alain Bois, David Joselit, Benjamin Buchloh, Hal Foster, Rosalind E. Krauss, 2015
- Smithson Robert. The Collected Writings/ Ed. J. Flam. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. 1996. 2.
Andrii Liubov. Curator, sculptor. Head of the creative association “Public art” and
public organization “Art-workshop “Bloom”. Odesa. 10. 08. 2024