Gerry
Schum
Land Art
D, 1969, 47', television broadcast
The broadcast (transmitted by Sender Freies Berlin/ARD, 10.40pm, 15
April 1969) begins with a studio-recorded opening that has something
of the atmosphere of a vernissage. Following short speeches by Schum
and Jean Leering, the director of the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, the
artists' contributions are shown with no commentary. The eight artists
from different countries (Richard Long, Barry Flanagan, Dennis Oppenheim,
Marinus Boezem, Robert Smithson, Jan Dibbets, Walter de Maria, Mike
Heizer) co-operated closely with Schum. The filming concentrates on
the works of art that are created in rural sites, and there is none
of the usual TV portrayal of the artist in a 'studio atmosphere'. The
elaborate productions were shot in Europe and the USA. Schum expanded
the message of the emergent Land Art movement, which avoided the conventional
'studio gallery collector' distribution channels: 'Art
should no longer be made for the privacy or exclusiveness of dealers
or collectors. (...) Until now artists have not succeeded in finding
a modern system of communication. The only chance I see for the visual
arts is the conscious deployment of television.'