Art has always been intentionally buried underground. Funerary Art – a work of art that becomes, or is placed in or around a repository for the remains of the dead – has been practiced by most cultures around the world. We know of the ancient Egyptians’ tombs and pyramids, ancient Greek relief engravings and elaborate vases, Chinese sculpted figurines, and so on.
These art pieces, the significance of their placements, usually were meant as offerings to the Gods, aids in the deceased’s journey to the afterlife, a display of their wealth and lifestyle.
Was funerary art the only purpose, or reason for putting works of art in the ground?
Some contemporary artists have added their own twists. Australian performance artist, Mike Pair, buried himself under a Hobart, Tasmania street to memorialize the deaths and tortures of the Indigenous people at the hands of British Colonial violence. In Kent, Ohio, the “Partially Buried Woodshed” was a work of art meant to commemorate the 1970 Kent University killings.
Still, there was some connection to death, although there were other significant reasons. Memorializing. Commemorating. Bringing awareness. Inciting thought and reflection.
Australian artist Bert Flugelman buried six aluminum tetrahedron sculptures almost 5 metres below ground level, wanting people to consider the question: “Is it a sculpture if it’s buried and we can’t see it?”
In 1977, Walter de Maria created and buried a piece called “The Vertical Earth Kilometre” in Kessel, Germany. It is, as its name suggests, a kilometre long. Its flat, round top is surrounded by red sandstone plates. Whether or not it was his intention, this statement has come out of his actions: “Question what you see, for much may lie beneath.”
Sound familiar?
Sarnia has its own buried art. A thousand-pound metal sculpture called “Mooring”, donated by Alberta artist Peter von Tiesenhausen. It was 2008. The piece was buried at the downtown intersection of Lochiel and Christina. On the surface are four pink granite markers about six inches in diameter that denote where the piece is buried. Von Tiesenhausen was making a political statement, wanting to engage Canadians from all walks of life with art and for them to see how “crucial culture is to a country”.
There have also been art pieces buried/hidden within walls of museums around the world. Some artists were recognizing a similar etymology (word origins) of the words museum and mausoleum, and thought it philosophically correct to ‘bury’ their works of art in this manner.
Whether it’s funerary art, art for making statements, even art for art’s sake, there is always the connection to the living. Seen or unseen, art is always there. Buried art, then, may only be a concept.