Aix by Richard Serra

The work by Richard Serra gives a sense of discomfort to place. A huge heavy plank made by iron or lead is inserted into a scene. You are looked down by it, surrounded by it and it sometimes blocks you to provoke a sense of space. In a sense it is similar to architecture, but it is obviously art work because it declines all the utilities.

As Serra’s work could be an obstacle rather than public art, it is highly controversial. The representative sample is Tilted Ark installed at Federal Plaza in New York from 1981 to 1989. It was nothing but an obstacle for passersby to cross the plaza and finally forced to be warehoused because of the petition by thousands of people calling for removal. On the other hand, Tilted Sphere at Toronto Pearson International Airport (2004) seems to be accepted. It bars shops in the airport nonetheless passengers would enjoy the extraordinary experiences. 

Aix by Serra placed in Chateau la Coste is not especially outstanding as there are plenty of art and architecture in the site. Rusted planks are shown from slopes suddenly and block the landscape to produce disharmony. Three planks made by iron, copper and zinc are installed on a different level to a different direction. You could find the difference of the colours of three planks by looking from various angles. 

They are neither in harmony to the site nor a part of the beautiful scenery. But it is not unpleasant at all. They give the heterogeneity to the space which provokes us to confirm being “here” and “now”.

As they are made by metal and exposed to rain and sun in Southern France, their colours would change gradually. 

The metal planks remind us of something similar. We wrote about Anselm Kiefer’s works made by lead as something in between image and substance, and we also regarded them as the evidence showing that contemporary art works are no longer a representation but the “exposition” of something or themselves. Serra’s work is substance that abandons image completely. It is something that is exposed like Kiefer’s work. Literally it is exposed to the sun, to the air, to the rain and to the wind. And the changes caused by being exposed is exposed to your eyes in Chateau la Coste.