Ground Mutations

Ranging from the macrocosmic scale of Land Art to the microcosmic scale of Body Art, Dennis Oppenheim’s artworks include sculpture, performance, photography, and video. Ground Mutations is a multi-panel document of an ephemeral project which combines many of these media. In an isolated area outside of Aspen, Colorado, Oppenheim hired bulldozers to construct a 100-foot-square trench, whose depth ranged from ground level to six feet below. Over the course of one week, three performers were then instructed to march around the perimeter of the trench, continuously drumming. The site of Ground Mutations, chosen indiscriminately by Oppenheim, became marked (or “mutated”) both by the construction of the Earthwork trench and by the presence and activities of the performers.