Postgraduate Students

Erin Driessen, BA (Hons) (Otago)

The impact of space exploration and science fiction on art and interpretations of art in the United States (1960 - 1975)

Erin is currently investigating the impact of space exploration and science fiction on art and interpretations of art in the United States from the end of the Cold War to the early seventies. Focusing on so-called Earthworks and Earthworks artists, her thesis will examine how the surrounding influence of space exploration fueled some of the interpretations of these works and their creators. It will examine the direct and indirect ways in which art and artists were affected by the advent of science fiction television, the 'space race' and American goals of "conquering" space. Earthworks have been recognised by Suzaan Boettger, author of the first comprehensive study of the genre (published in 2002, 35 years after these works first appeared), as insufficiently embedded in culture, due to their supposed intrinsic relationship to nature. Initially, interpretations of Earthworks fell in line with predominant modernist, formalist methodologies. Hence, Earthworks were made of earth, so must be related to earth and its associations with fecund nature. The works' physical and formal characteristics, if these can be applied generally, were new and eccentric so provided the focus for criticism. However, this meant contextual implications were obscured. Adopting a Poststructuralist approach, Erin argues that Earthworks as a genre is the artistic expression of a cultural preoccupation with space, on two levels. Firstly, it is the logical dissolution of the artistic process known as 'dematerialisation,' which in part saw artists introduce space in a literal way into their work. Secondly, Earthworks has tangible aesthetic and social connections to space exploration in its practices, locations, processes, form and display.

Contact: erin.driessen@gmail.com

Supervisors: Dr Judith Collard, Dr Russell Johnson

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