Earth moves at MOCA this weekend

Alice Aycock, Clay #2

Can’t wait till the end of June for the unveiling of Michael Heizer’s much-ballyhooed Rock at LACMA? Craving nature, but not able to get out of the city this weekend? Head to MOCA’s Geffen Contemporary in Little Tokyo on Sunday for the opening of Ends of the Earth: Land Art to 1974.

This show, years in the making, celebrates a movement in the sixties and seventies where artists began to literally work with dirt. Our Hunter Drohojowska-Philp explains: “Animated by Conceptual art concerns and the politically charged consciousness of the times, artists embraced the big issues: the impact of the atomic bomb, space exploration and rapid development of the environment.”

Among the big piles of earth from artists around the globe you’ll see on display, she says: “From the German zero group, Gunther Uecker’s mound of sand is piled around a knife sticking up vertically with an electric switch that makes it turn in a tight circle. From the Italian Arte Povera group, there are blocks of packed earth mounted on the wall by Pino Pascale. From Japan, there is a 1960s period television broadcasting a constant image of the sky by Fluxus artist Yoko Ono.”

Eighty artists in total are represented and the show’s curators will give a talk this Sunday. You can read more of Hunter’s preview or hear our conversation about the show here.

Ends of the Earth at the Geffen runs through August 20.