Site_Specific Collective
The Site_Specific Collective promotes site-specific land and nature art in South Africa.
integrating culture & nature
We are a collective of volunteers who are passionate about art in nature.
We aim to facilitate and promote a conversation that reconsiders our cultural practices and its impacts on nature, seeking out a collaborative relationship between our human needs and environmental concerns.
Although some land artworks become permanent installations, much of our practice is ephemeral in nature – creating non-destructive, non-invasive, impermanent artworks, temporary installations, performances, and interventions that dissipate as the climate and environment reclaims the work.
Community engagement and collaborations between artists and local residents are central to our process through workshops, presentations, participation and conversation.
Land and nature art offers the opportunity to integrate ‘culture’ and ‘nature’, celebrating and honouring those life resources that sustain us, reminding us of the temporary nature of our shared existence.
International & National Projects
Site_Specific launched in 2011 with an International Land Art Biennale in Plettenberg Bay, South Africa. Since then it has grown from strength to strength, responding to a collective need to have a conversation that addresses unfolding climate change and our responsibilities.
Artists play an important role in facilitating this conversation, and we’ve been fortunate to have incredible artists, scientists and practitioners from all walks of life and many parts of the world collaborate on our projects.
Our PROJECTS menu demonstrates the scope and range of our endeavour, each project is driven by a core group of individuals passionate about art and the environment.
BASA Award
The Beacon Island Resort won the BASA (Business & Arts South Africa) Art and Environment award for sponsoring the Site_Specific International Land Art Biennale in Plettenberg Bay in 2011.
The Gift Economy
Our projects are driven by collaborative and cooperative relationships between artists, supporters, specialists, and local community members.
Most of our work is actualised through volunteered time and energy, and a passionate engagement with the issues at hand. Although we do receive much needed sponsorship form time to time, most of what is actualised is thanks to the hard work and generous participation of all those who bring their support, expertise, facilities, and services to our projects.
Please contact us if you wish to contribute or participate.
Good Practice Guidelines
We encourage artists to read through our good practice guidelines to keep in mind environmental and community concerns. Artists activating a site are asked to consider their impact, and to collaborate with the communal, material and physical opportunities a particular site may provide.
Key Values
Space - time specific
- Site_Specific’s events are space/time specific – each event an immediate context-specific response to the environment in which it takes place.
Highest standard of artistic practice
- At the core of each Site_Specific activity is conscientious artistic practice within land art and related genres, inviting artists who are dedicated, respected, and renowned for their work.
Ecology first
- The focus of Site_Specific’s motivation is ‘ecology first’ – interfacing art, culture, and nature with the overall aim of working in balance with the environments in which we engage.
Accessible
- Public accessibility is of prime importance, using media, advertising, and events organisation based industries to facilitate knowledge and understanding on the projects and issues undertaken by Site_Specific.
Inclusive
- The foundation on which Site_Specific operates is inclusivity – ploughing the majority of effort and resources into community development programs that hinge on, interface with, and feed out of our core activity of conscientious artistic practice. In the word ‘community’ we include all forms and variations of its meaning.
Educational
- Embedded within all its activities, Site_Specific holds education as a key role, aiming to influence minds and paradigms around issues of environment, community, culture, and artistic practice.
A Collective
Site_Specific was started in 2011 as a collaborative effort by South African land artist Strijdom van der Merwe along with Anni Snyman, PC van Rensburg, Heather Greig, Erica Lüttich and fellow artists, friends and supporters.
Since then many more have joined the project, and their names are listed in the context of each individual endeavour.
Starting out as a registered not-for-profit in 2011, it dissolved its organisational structure in 2015 in favour of a collaborative collective of artists and interested parties.
Site_Specific actively uses the social media platform to share projects with a local and international audience. For each project we create extensive online archives of imagery, videos, interviews and project pages. Be sure to join us. Click here, even if you can't be there.
Copyright Statement
Site_Specific Collective's imagery is available for use under the Creative Commons attribution copyright guidelines. Our artists, photographers, videographers and film makers volunteer their time and energy to a project that is about addressing the imbalance in our relationship with nature and our fellow earthly beings.
You are welcome to use this material for non-profit purposes to promote aspects close to our heart on condition that you reference the project, the artists, the photographers, the sponsors and the issues associated with the projects we engage.
If you wish to publish or exhibit or broadcast any of our materials, please contact media at sitespecific dot org dot za for more information. If you'd like to support our project please contact donation at sitespecific dot org dot za, thank you.