---
title: "Land art"
description: "Art made by shaping the land itself (earthworks, stone arrangements, planted forms) usually at landscape scale and inseparable from its site."
glossary: "https://www.civiccollection.com/glossary"
source: "https://www.civiccollection.com/glossary/land-art"
---

# Land art

> Art made by shaping the land itself (earthworks, stone arrangements, planted forms) usually at landscape scale and inseparable from its site.

Glossary: https://www.civiccollection.com/glossary  
Source: https://www.civiccollection.com/glossary/land-art

The canonical example is Robert Smithson's *Spiral Jetty* (1970), a coil of
basalt and earth reaching into Utah's Great Salt Lake, visible or submerged
depending on the water level. The changing conditions are part of the work.

Municipal land art is more modest but real: sculpted park berms, planted
labyrinths, artist-designed stormwater features, reclaimed industrial sites.
Its stewardship question is unique in the field: weathering and growth are
usually part of the artist's intent, so maintenance means deciding how much
change to allow, not preventing change altogether.

Related terms: [Site-specific art](https://www.civiccollection.com/glossary/site-specific-art), [Sculpture](https://www.civiccollection.com/glossary/sculpture), [Temporary public art](https://www.civiccollection.com/glossary/temporary-public-art)