Land art,
earthworks (coined by
Robert Smithson), or
Earth art is an art movement in which landscape and the work of art are inextricably linked. It is also an
art form that is created in
nature, using
natural materials such as
soil,
rock (bed rock, boulders, stones), organic media (logs, branches,
leaves), and
water with introduced materials such as
concrete,
metal,
asphalt, or mineral
pigments. Sculptures are not placed in the landscape, rather, the landscape is the means of their creation. Often
earth moving equipment is involved. The works frequently exist in the open, located well away from civilization, left to change and
erode under natural conditions. Many of the first works, created in the deserts of Nevada, New Mexico, Utah or Arizona were
ephemeral in nature and now only exist as video recordings or
photographic documents. They also pioneered a category of art called
site-specific sculpture, designed for a particular outdoor location.