In January 1970 the American 'land' artist, Robert Smithson, created one of his iconic earthworks, Partially Buried Woodshed. Executed at Kent State University, Ohio, where Smithson was an artist-in-residence, the piece consisted of a shed buried beneath tons of dirt which Smithson and a number of helpers tipped onto the shed until its roof caved in, beginning a process of disintegration and entropy which would result in the work being consigned to the earth, just as Smithson hoped would happen. Partially Buried Woodshed is not only of significance from an art historical point of view; it also has a political resonance - in May 1970, the same year in which Smithson made his work, a demonstration against the Vietnam War took place at Kent State University during which four students were killed by National Guardsmen. The shed, pounded by the weather and destroyed by vandalism, finally disintegrated altogether in 1984, apparently aided by the university's decision to demolish what was left of it.
In 2005 Charlesworth, Lewandowski & Mann, a group of artists who first met as students at Goldsmiths College in London, decided to reproduce Smithson's Partially Buried Woodshed, to bring back to life a work which had (more or less) succumbed to the elements two decades previously. For their version of Smithson's work, Charlesworth, Lewandowski & Mann reconstructed a full-scale replica of the portions of the shed visible above Smithson's mounds of dirt. Entitled Partially Shed (May 4 Kent 70), Charlesworth, Lewandowski & Mann's work evokes both the shooting at Kent State in 1970 and Smithson's iconic work, creating, as they put it, 'both a mythological and political discourse which calls into question the historical narratives of the protest movement in 1970s America'.
Partially Shed (May 4 Kent 70) is typical of Charlesworth, Lewandowski & Mann's works which often engage in a dialogue with moments and figures of historical importance. For their 2006 video piece Radio City, exhibited during the Liverpool Biennial in October 2006, Charlesworth, Lewandowski & Mann made a journey to the Shivering Sands Sea Fort in Kent, once used as gun forts to fight the Luftwaffe. Super human effort isn't worth a damn unless it gets results, also 2006, was inspired by images of Scott of the Antarctic and Ernest Shackleton, and by issues of failure and masculinity. Future projects include the recreation of a motorbike stunt ramp based on the ramp used by Evel Knievel during his failed jump over 13 single-decker buses in London in 1975. Charlesworth, Lewandowski & Mann have also begun to recreate Kurtz's hide-out as depicted in the film Apocalypse Now.
To see more work by Charlesworth, Lewandowski & Mann, registed on Your Gallery, click here.
You can also find out more about Charlesworth, Lewandowski & Mann by visiting their website.
Rebecca Wilson
Partially Shed (May 4 Kent 70), 2006
Super human effort isn't worth a damn unless it gets results, 2006
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