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Robert Morris created Untitled (Steam Work For Bellingham) (1974) during a time of great movement– politically, socially, environmentally and artistically. Morris, a renowned sculptor and artist, created installation pieces like Untitled (Steam Work For Bellingham) that involved the land and environment around the piece. Morris was heavily entrenched in the minimalist movement of the 1960’s and 1970’s. Minimalism and other art forms that began cropping up during this time were in opposition to the idea of abstract expressionism that had existed before. This allowed for non-elitist artists to gain fame and recognition for their work.

Another artistic movement that gained traction in the ‘60s and ‘70s was environmental or land art. Amongst other political movements, many people began concerning themselves with the damage being done to the Earth and its environment.This style takes natural forms and incorporates man-made materials to celebrate and enhance the natural wonders of the Earth. This style influenced Morris’s work because many of his sculptures including Untitled (Steam Work for Bellingham) exist outdoors. This artistic movement calls on the viewer to confront their relationship with the Earth when viewing the art.

Untitled (Steam Work for Bellingham) features Morris’s minimalist style as well as his appreciation of Earth art. His incorporation of rocks and stones shows his interest in the land and environment around the piece. This installation sometimes involves steam that comes from the steam plant on campus that is used to heat various buildings. The steam can be seen at certain times of the day when it is released into the outdoors through the vents of Robert Morris’s sculpture.

In some of his work Morris used the creation of the piece to enhance the audience’s experience of the piece. His piece Box With the Sound of its Own Making (1961) inspired us to created a visual and audio presentation of the piece. Photos show what the piece looks like at different stages of time, while the audio gives background about what goes on near the piece. The piece is in a part of campus that sometimes goes unnoticed even though people walk, bike, and drive near it everyday.

In conceptual, Morris experimented with the concept that the process of making and documenting the making of art is relevant to the piece and art itself, which was best illustrated with the well known piece Box with the Sound of Its Own Making (1961). This piece was a plain wooden box that was accompanied by about three hours of the sounds of the creation of the box and crossed the line between a finished product and the time-consuming nature of creation. The other interesting part of this is that it completely breaks the romanticism of the finished product by showing viewers the time, work and effort that went into creation, which people almost never see when looking at artwork. 

He orchestrated many pieces at the Judson Dance Theater including Site (1964), which  was another piece that is exemplary of Morris’ performance art. This piece is similar to Box with the Sound of Its Own Making (1961) in that it provokes thought about the artistic process and shift the focus from the finished work. It involved Morris wearing a mask of his own face on stage, moving about and maneuvering wood around the stage to at first reveal and then finally cover the naked portrait of Carolee Schneemann.

Some key conceptual points in his work are minimalism. His works would feature repetition on a large scale and viewers would be able to perceive the sculptures from different angles. One of his most prominent and best known pieces was Untitled (L-Beams) (1965). Like a lot of his work, this piece was simple, featuring the repetition of shapes without traces of outside influence. It’s configuration would be different in every exhibition and allowed viewers to move around the art and look at it from different angles, which would change the perception of the size of the L blocks.

We wanted to focus our project on  using different mediums to interpret the art. We wanted someone who might be unable to visit the piece in person to be able to experience it with multiple senses right from their own computer.

Credits:

Nam Nguyen, research, photos

Kyra Tabul-Bruce, research, photos

Sophie Miller, research, audio

Citations:

“Robert Morris (artist).” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 05 Apr. 2017. Web.  24 Apr. 2017

“Robert Morris Biography, Art, and Analysis of Works.” The Art Story. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2017

“Robert Morris Biography, Art, and Analysis of Works.” The Art Story. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2017

Contemporary Art Movements, visualartscork.com, Encyclopedia of Art, April 23, 2017. http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/contemporary-art-movements.htm

Introduction to Minimal Art, understandingminimalism.com, April 23, 2017, http://understandingminimalism.com/introduction-to-minimal-art/