Ghost Parking Lot

National Shopping Centers - 1977

Twenty automobiles are buried under asphalt at various graduated levels, from full exposure of the body contours to complete envelopment by the paving. Contrary to the prevalent use of “object art” as a decorative accessory to buildings and public spaces, this fusion of typically mobile artifacts with their environment takes advantage of people’s subliminal connections with the rituals of shopping center merchandising and the fetishism of American car culture. Also, unlike public art conceived from a private art perspective, this project cannot be removed or exhibited apart from its context without a total loss of meaning.