Land Art from Above

Land art, also known as earth art or earthworks, is an artistic movement that emerged in the United States and the United Kingdom between the 1960s and 1970s. Expanding the boundaries of both the physical space of art and the materials used, artists began creating works in the open air, often using natural elements themselves – such as water, land or vegetation.

Land art was born amid a growing awareness of environmental preservation. “In a sense, earth art can constitute a form of preservation, because if a piece of land is consecrated as art, it can be kept intact. There is a desire to preserve not only the environment but also the human spirit ”, writes Amy Dempsey in “Styles, Schools and Movements“ (free translation from Cosac Naify, 2003).

The movement has established names, such as Robert Smithson, whose work “Spiral Jetty” (1970), a spiral road made of soil and black basalt rocks on the Great Salt Lake (Utah, USA) spent a great part of its existence submerged under water. Land art, however, can also count on ephemeral works, such as the creations by the duo Christo and Jeanne-Claude. The duo set out to pack or wrap large-scale objects, in order to temporarily transform them. The transience of such works and the fact that they are exposed to natural elements as well as the lack of maintenance means that much of land art can be known only through photographs or videos.

Google Earth has created an interactive world map by which you can take a guided tour of ten land art works that can be seen from space. Click here to enter the map, and enjoy your tour!