Green Fields

'White Cube' used to be the common term for exhibition space for contemporary art, expressing the purist attitude of modernism. The story of 'art in the countryside', related over five chapters of this book, covering the period from the post-war years to the immediate present, is intended to present an alternative history of this art location. This exhibition venue, tentatively named 'Green Cube' or 'Green Fields' (in deference to an essay by the art historian Rosalind Strauss), includes 'classic' sculpture parks, as well as large-scale natural contexts, in which art exerted a critical impact in continuation of the Land Art approaches of the 1960s. The increased environmental and nature awareness of our era has led to an new renaissance of this open-air art venue, which has taken on a variety of forms: It ranges from representative private parks as an expression of a renewed sensitivity to nature, through performative art forms, all the way to more political approaches that seek a new relationship between nature and culture. After the 'White Cube' era, 'Green Fields', whether park or landscape, has emerged as the preferred venue for postmodern space-related art in natural environments and which, in its opportunities and desire for staging, actually connects to the traditions of historical garden art.