Gone

Over the past few decades site-specific art has evolved into an international phenomenon, drawing viewers to installations in familiar public arenas as well as remote and unusual places. Irish artist Dorothy Cross has emerged as one of the form's most compelling practitioners, one who never abandons the actuality of place, the materiality of the object, or her eye for unexpected beauty. "Gone" presents the first book-length study of Cross's work and the only permanent documentation of her site-specific art. With full-color photographs, Cross's own account of the construction process, and detailed analysis by scholar Robin Lydenberg, this exhibition catalog manages the seemingly impossible: capturing the ephemeral quality of Cross's work. Cross's goal is not to make a fixed monument to the abandoned and forgotten, but to collaborate with and transform each site. She also collaborates with her audience, inviting viewers to encounter the work on a physical as well as a psychic level. Lydenberg's text explores three major themes in Cross's work: the return of the repressed, the impossibility of desire, and the inevitability of loss. "Gone" - its images, philosophy, and words - will inspire artists and art historians alike.