American Installation Art
Introduction
This section of the Traditional Fine Arts Organization (TFAO) catalogue Topics in American Art is devoted to the topic "American Installation Art." Articles and essays specific to this topic published in TFAO's Resource Library are listed at the beginning of the section. Clicking on titles takes readers directly to these articles and essays. The date at the end of each title is the Resource Library publication date.
After articles and essays from Resource Library are links to valuable online resources found outside our website. Links may be to museums' articles about exhibits, plus much more topical information based on our online searches. Following online resources may be information about offline resources including museums, DVDs, and paper-printed books, journals and articles.
We recommend that readers search within the TFAO website to find detailed information for any topic. Please see our page How to research topics not listed for more information.
What is Installation Art?
The Wikipedia entry for Installation art says it is "...an artistic genre of three-dimensional works that are often site-specific and designed to transform the perception of a space. Generally, the term is applied to interior spaces, whereas exterior interventions are often called public art, land art or intervention art; however, the boundaries between these terms overlap."
Resource Library articles and essays honoring the American experience through its art:
Tim Rollins and K.O.S.'s A Midsummer Night's Dream (8/1/16)
Universal Collection: A Mark Dion Project (6/28/16)
Aaron T Stephan: To Borrow, Cut, Copy, and Steal (10/3/14)
Ryan McGinness: Studio Visit (2/7/14)
In Process: Andrew Schoultz; essay by Karen Crews Hendon (10/14/13)
Poems of a Threatened Eden (10/22/09)
The Spasm Between the Infinities (11/16/06)
Art Now: Dawn Clements (9/1/06)
Elusive Signs: Bruce Nauman Works with Light (11/9/05)
Fred Wilson: Objects and Installations: 1979-2000 at The Studio Museum In Harlem (4/22/04)
Ginny Ruffner Unlimited; essay by Vicki Halper (2/4/04)
Creativity: The Flowering Tornado, Art by Ginny Ruffner (10/2/03)
Fred Wilson: Objects and Installations, 1979-2000 (9/2/03)
"Keith Edmier and Farrah Fawcett" and "The American Supermarket" (5/31/03)
Lighten Up: Art with a Sense of Humor (2/17/01)
Star-Spangled Presidents: Portraits by Liza Lou (12/4/00)
Peter Lodato: From Installation to Painting, Selected Works 1980-2000 (10/1/00)
Sites Around the City: Art and Environment (2/21/00)
Altars & Icons: Installation/Sculpture by Cristina Emmanuel and Nancy Josephson (1/12/00)
Betty Tompkins: Weir Deer (6/23/99)
Dale Chihuly: Installations (5/26/99)
Don't Call Me an Artist (9/11/98)
From other web sites:
Andrea Dezsö: Haunted Ridgefield, an installation presented October 31 to December 31, 2011 at the Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art. Accessed August, 2015.
The Art of Burning Man is a 2017 exhibit at the Hermitage Museum & Gardens which says: "The exhibition features outdoor and indoor artworks from seven of Burning Man's artist teams: Michael Garlington, Charles Gadeken, James Peterson, Bree Hylkema and Sean Orlando of Five Ton Crane, Kirsten Berg, Gregg Fleishman, and Christopher Schardt. The upstairs changing galleries at the museum also feature iconic photographs from Burning Man by Scott London. Immersive, large-scale sculptures and interactive installations transform the Hermitage grounds for five months." Accessed 8/17
Ballooniverse; Brain Bending Balloon Art by Addi Somekh is a 2017 exhibit at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History which says: "Featuring self-taught balloon twister and artist extraordinaire Addi Somekh, this exhibit will showcase changing installations made entirely out of balloons and photographs from the Balloon Hat Experience." Also see artist's website. Accessed 9/17
Brian Knep: Deep Wounds, an installation presented July 15, 2012, to February 24, 2013 at the Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art. Accessed August, 2015.
Carrie Mae Weems: Ritual and Revolution is a 2017 exhibit at Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art which says: "Ritual and Revolution (1998) is an immersive, gallery-sized installation that marks one of the artist's earliest forays into three dimensions. Composed of 18 diaphanous printed cloth banners organized in a semi-architectural formation and a poetic audio track, Ritual and Revolution explores the historic human struggle for equality and justice, including references to the Middle Passage, the French Revolution, World War II, among others." - To read more after exhibit closes, go to "Past Exhibitions" section of museum website. Also see artist's website Accessed 11/17
Carmen Argote: Workbook / Notebook is a 2016 exhibit at the Armory Center for the Arts, which says: "This two-part exhibition by Los Angeles-based artist Carmen Argote communicates the complexity of routine pedagogical exercises that reveal the inner process of second language learners." Accessed 11/16.
Carlos Rolón/Dzine: I Tell You This Sincerely is a 2016 exhibit at the Chicago Cultural Center which says: "Internationally recognized for his elaborately crafted paintings, ornate sculptures and site-specific installations that incorporate social practice, Carlos Rolón/Dzine returns home for his first Chicago solo exhibition in 12 years." Accessed 3/17
Charles Simonds Dwelling is a 2020 installation at the Museum of Arts and Design which says: "Constructed from miniature bricks cut from flat sheets of clay and assembled with tweezers, the Dwellings resemble the archaeological remains of indigenous communities of the American Southwest, such as the cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde, and are imagined as architectural environments for fictional civilizations of "Little People" who roam the streets of neighborhoods in cities throughout the world.: Accessed 5/20
Come on Down by Lisa Hoke, an exhibit held December 13, 2013 - April 13, 2014 at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art. Includes online video. Accessed April, 2015.
Edward Kienholz and Nancy Reddin Kienholz: The Jesus Corner, an exhibit held September 13, 2013 - January 30, 2014 at the Missoula Art Museum. Includes video. Accessed March, 2015.
Francisco Alvarado-Juárez is a 2017 exhibit at the North Dakota Museum of Art The artist says in the NDMA description of the exhibit: "For twenty-five years, I have created installations aimed at attracting the viewer through a seemingly natural and familiar space. I use organic wastes, recycled paper in the form of thousands of recyclable grocery bags, painted and cut by hand, one by one. Students from Grand Forks contributed additional bags that joined approximately 3,600 used in this installation. All together the bags simulate a natural camouflage for the various animals and abstractions that are carefully painted, and later semi-hidden, by the protruding paper." Also see the artist's website. To read more after exhibit closes, go to "Past Exhibitions" section of museum website. Accessed 9/17
Genesis Belanger: Through the Eye of a Needle is a 2020 exhibit at the Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art which says: "Anthropomorphizing common household objects -- lipsticks with wagging tongues, lamps with ladies' pearls, and tins with doey-eyed sardines -- Belanger's methodology blends Surrealism and Pop art with a self-possessed feminism informed by a career inside the fashion and advertising industries." Accessed 1/21
The Grasshopper and the Ant and Other Stories as told by Jennifer Angus is a 2019 exhibit at the Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg which says: "A neo-Victorian, a creator of unexpected experiences, and a visionary artist who twists the familiar into the unsettling, Jennifer Angus (b. 1961) challenges our perceptions and expectations by working in an unusual medium: dried, exotic insects. Her site-specific installations often incorporate large, brilliantly-colored insects into elaborate patterns inspired by Victorian wallpaper and 19th-century book illustration - always to dramatic and startlingly beautiful effect." Also see article in Tampa Bay Times and 10/31/19 article in cltampa.com. Accessed 6/20
I Heard a Voice: The Art of Lesley Dill, an exhibit held May 15 - September 13, 2009 at the Smith College Museum of Art. Includes catalogue. Accessed April, 2015.
Jean Shin: Common Threads, an exhibit held May 1, 2009 - July 26, 2009 at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Includes brochure, online video and press coverage. Accessed April, 2015.
Jill Wells: Black Thread is a 2023 exhibit at the Dubuque Museum of Art which says: "As 4,000+ black butterflies glide from floor to ceiling, along every wall of the DuMA lobby, cascading from above and wheeling in reverence, the narrative begins in the installation BLACK THREAD by Des Moines artist Jill Wells. BLACK THREAD presents the pathways and journey of The Great Migration, one of the largest movements of people in United States history. In honoring African American History, BLACK THREAD acknowledges the sewing of the fabric of America done by countless African Americans throughout U.S. history." Accessed 4/23
Jim Hodges: With Liberty and Justice for All (A Work in Progress), is a 2016 installation at the Contemporary Austin, Moody Rooftop at the Jones Center. Heather Pesanti, Senior Curator, says: "...Characteristic of his use of succinct but powerful gestures, as well as his interest in language to convey open-ended concepts, With Liberty and Justice for All (A Work in Progress), 2014, consists of the title's words "With Liberty and Justice for All" spelled out in seven-foot-tall letters spanning two sides of The Contemporary Austin's Moody Rooftop at the Jones Center. During the day, the letters' iridescent, mirrored surfaces oscillate between blues, purples, oranges, and pinks, reflecting the environment around them. At dusk, the letters remain visible, lit from within to transform the work into a magnificent sculpture of color and light." Accessed 12/16
Lita Albuquerque: Particle Horizon, an exhibit held October 12, 2014 - January 18, 2015 at the Laguna Art Museum. Accessed February, 2015.
Martha Glowacki's Natural History, Observations and Reflections is a 2017 exhibit at the Chazen Museum of Art which says: "Martha Glowacki's Natural History, Observations and Reflections presents sculpture and installations that concern human observation and description of the natural world. In this exhibition, Glowacki is particularly interested in the history of science and scientific illustration." Presentation includes exhibit catalog. Accessed 4/17
Michael Rakowitz: Backstroke of the West is a 2017 exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago which says: "Drawing on personal experiences and research on these subjects, as well as history and popular culture, Rakowitz creates illustrated objects, installations, and performances that invite viewers to contemplate their complicit relationship to the political world around them, recognizing that hospitality and hostility are interlinked." Also see artist's website Accessed 11/17
Michael Rakowitz: Nimrud is a 2020 exhibit at the Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art which says: "The ancient Assyrian city of Nimrud (located near Mosul in present-day northern Iraq) has fascinated Westerners in the years since its "discovery" and subsequent excavation, between 1845 and 1851, by British archaeologist Austen Henry Layard. Recently, Iraqi-American visual artist Michael Rakowitz (born New York City 1973) has turned to Nimrud's hallmark, the Northwest Palace, constructed by Ashurnasirpal II between 883 and 859 BCE, in his ongoing effort to complicate the narrative around cultural patrimony, especially as it pertains to the Middle East." Accessed 4/21
Rick Araluce: The Final Stop is a 2017 exhibit at the Smithsonian American Art Museum which says: "Rick Araluce: The Final Stop transforms a gallery into an abandoned underground subway platform in the artist's first large-scale installation on the East Coast. Stepping on to the platform, visitors are enveloped in the illusion of an eerie subterranean world where flickering lights and distant rumblings suggest the comings and goings of trains that never arrive." Also see wall text and artist's website Accessed 12/17
Robert Therrien is a 2015 exhibit at The Contemporary Austin which says: "For more than four decades, the Los Angeles-based artist Robert Therrien has been making forms and images inspired by daily, domestic life." Also see press release. Accessed 10/18
Roots of "The Dinner Party": History in the Making (Judy Chicago) is a 2017 exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum of Art which says: "Roots of "The Dinner Party": History in the Making is the first museum exhibition to examine Chicago's evolving plans for The Dinner Party in depth, detailing its development as a multilayered artwork, a triumph of community art-making, and a testament to the power of historical revisionism." Also see 10/20/17 article in The Guardian and artist's website Accessed 12/17
The Seen & the Unseen: Annie Waldrop, an exhibit held July 3 - September 26, 2015 at the Turchin Center for the Visual Arts at Appalachian State University. Includes gallery guide. Accessed December, 2015.
Simone Leigh is a 2016-17 Hammer Projects exhibit at the Armand Hammer Museum of Art and Cultural Center, which says: "Working across ceramics, sculpture, video, installation, and social practice, Simone Leigh examines the construction of black female subjectivity and economies of self-preservation and exchange. Her practice is largely research based and intersectional, and considers a range of sources, including ethnography, feminist discourse, folklore, and histories of political resistance." An essay by Jamillah James is included. Accessed 11/16.
Sonic Arcade: Shaping Space with Sound is a 2017 exhibit at the Museum of Arts and Design which says: "Comprised of linked solo and curated projects, Sonic Arcade explores sound as substance, framing it as interdependent material that is physically crafted and transmitted through electronic circuits and signals, radio waves, and resonant bodies that create encounters that are not only heard, but felt." Accessed 9/17
The Stuart Collection maintains site-specific outdoor installations by noted artists throughout the US San Diego campus. Accessed December, 2015.
Timothy Noble: The Semi-Automatic Chalkboard, an installation presented December 13, 2013 - April 22, 2014 at the Burchfield - Penney Art Center. Accessed August, 2015.
Unipkaa!usiksu!uvik (the place of the future/ancient) was a 2016 exhibit at the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center, which says; "This multimedia installation and two-month performance by Anchorage-based Iñupiaq artist Allison Akootchook Warden takes the form of an Iñupiat ceremonial qargi. Warden's version is a futuristic recreation of a ceremonial house, where she allows her audience to gently explore these spaces in a contemporary context." Accessed 11/16
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