Why is land art particularly relevant today? What are its new manifestations? How do we deal with these often impermanent works of art? And how does land art shed light on the urgent ecological and social issues of today?

Through the Land Art Lives program, Kunstmuseum M. and Land Art Flevoland will jointly investigate these questions at an international conference scheduled for October 3, 2024, in Lelystad.

Prior to the conference, there will be in-depth activities where creators, owners, and other experts will engage in discussions about the future of land art in Flevoland, the Netherlands, and around the world.

All announcements and event reports can be found on this platform. It will continue to announce future events even after the conference.

What is Land Art?

Land art is an idea, impulse or movement that utilizes the landscape as a place for artistic creation. Art that is all about the landscape, that lets one experience it, experiment with it and reflect on it.

The early era of land art was closely associated with the anti-institutional ethos of the 1970s, as well as other art forms stemming from it, including performance, minimalism, conceptual art, and new media. Since then, the institutions that artists opposed at the time have embraced land art. The genre has evolved into a form of commissioned art, and its ideas have evolved accordingly. Meanwhile, a history, a canon, and a vibrant, multifaceted, and developing practice characterise the field.

Land art has been and continues to be created all over the world, from Russia and Japan to Brazil, America, and Europe. This art form is particularly associated with large-scale, monumental works of art situated in the vast American desert. It is clear that this image needs to be adjusted.

Pre-programme

We are paving the way to the international conference through a series of small events, focused on specific topics and held in different locations. They highlight the issues and questions at hand from diverse angles, including considerations surrounding the ownership and management of land art, as well as its programming and creation. Through hosting these events in collaboration with our partners, we bolster our network and broaden the scope of land art in Flevoland, the Netherlands, and beyond.

International conference

On October 3, 2024, everything will come together at an international conference at the Agora Theater in Lelystad. We start the day with several international speakers including Humberto Moro from Dia Art Foundation, Lisa Le Feuvre from Holt/Smithshon Foundation, Britta Peters from Urbane Künste Ruht and Anja Novak from University of Amsterdam. Parallel working sessions on the future of land art, from political to practical, from historical to policy, from artistic to academic, will take place in the afternoon. The day will be chaired by Meta Knol. In addition to the program, there will be ample opportunity to meet and delve further into reading and archival material.

For whom

Land Art Lives is of interest to artists, owners of land art, academics, art historians, stewards, restorers, policymakers, landscape designers, heritage specialists and many others.

About us

The international program Land Art Lives is developed by Kunstmuseum M. in Almere in close cooperation with Land Art Flevoland.

The program team consists of the curators Anne Reenders (Kunstmuseum M.) and Martine van Kampen (Land Art Flevoland), Lot Meijers (production), Anne van de Dool (texts) and Michel Langendijk (communications).

In addition, we also collaborate with:
– Stroom,The Hague
– The Cultural Heritage Agency / Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed (RCE)
– The University of Amsterdam
– Flevolab
– Holt/Smithson Foundation
– Land Art Contemporary

The program is financially supported by: Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, Almere 2.0., Municipality of Almere, Province of Flevoland, Mondriaan Fund and het Cultuurfonds. With a special thanks to Institut Français NL, the Netherlands consulate-general in New York and the editorial board: Lisa Le Feuvre (Holt/Smithson Foundation), Anja Novak (UvA), Vincent de Boer (Stroom, The Hague) and Simone Vermaat (Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed).

Contact

If you have any questions, please contact the Land Art Lives project team via info@landartlives.nl.
For PR and press inquiries, contact Michel Langendijk at press@landartlives.nl or +31 (0)6-40963010