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Andrew Rogers is a contemporary sculptor born in Australia whose works may be found in many plazas and buildings around the world. Rogers is the creator of the world's largest contemporary land art undertaking. Titled "Rhythms of Life," the project commenced in 1998 and at present comprises 51 massive stone structures across 16 countries on seven continents and has involved over 7,500 people.
The title of the project, the "Rhythms of Life" is derived from Rogers' early bronze sculptures.
Of particular note is a site in Cappadocia, Turkey, where between 2007 and 2011 Rogers completed the "Time and Space" geoglyph park. The thirteen structures comprise more than 10,500 tons of stone and, in total, the walls measure approximately 6 kilometres (4 mi) in length. The structures that lie furthest apart are separated by a distance of 2.5 km (1+1⁄2 mi).
Rogers' "Rhythms of Life" project is the largest contemporary land-art undertaking in the world, forming a chain of 51 stone sculptures, or geoglyphs, around the globe: 18 sites in disparate exotic locations from below sea level and up to altitudes of 4,300 metres (14,100 ft). Up to three geoglyphs, ranging in size up to 40,000 square metres (430,000 sq ft), are located at each site. To date the project has involved over 7,500 people in 16 countries across seven continents.
Monumental geoglyphs have been constructed since 1998, forming a chain of 51 drawings on the earth visible from space. Outside Melbourne, in Geelong, a "Rhythms of Life" site was commissioned in association with the 2006 Commonwealth Games. [1] In China the "Rhythms of Life" walls stretch 2.1 kilometres (1.3 mi).
In the book "Andrew Rogers Geoglyphs Rhythms of Life", author Eleanor Heartney, New York-based, award-winning art writer and independent art critic, describes Rogers' land art undertaking: [2]
"The geographic and historic sweep of the works constructed as part of the Rhythms of Life project is unprecedented in its scale and ambition. Taken together, the geoglyphs have been erected in every kind of climate, and have responded to geographical environments as distinct as Nepal’s Himalayan Mountains, China’s Gobi Desert, the volcanic mountains of Iceland and the harsh Israeli desert."
According to Hannes Sigurdsson, Director of the Akureyri Art Museum in Iceland: [3]
"The Rhythms of Life project by Australian artist Andrew Rogers is the largest contemporary land-art project in the world, forming a chain of stone sculptures, or geoglyphs, around the globe. Monumental geoglyphs have been constructed in ten countries to date: Israel, Chile, Bolivia, Sri Lanka, Australia, Iceland, China, India, Turkey and Nepal. Future locations will include the United States, United Kingdom, Eastern Europe and Africa. By completion, the project will have involved over 5,000 people on six continents. The Rhythms of Life sculptures are optimistic metaphors for the eternal cycle of life and regeneration, expressive and suggestive of human striving and introspection. The geoglyphs embrace a wide cultural vision that links memory and various symbols derived from ancient rock carvings, paintings and legends in each region; they punctuate time and extend history into the distant future while delving into the depths of our heritage in pursuit of the spiritual. The exhibition at the Akureyri Art Museum in Iceland is the first general survey of the project".
Lilly Wei, an independent curator based in New York City, writes: [3]
"Rogers believes that accelerating environmental changes with their potentially catastrophic consequences are much less avoidable these days and therefore much more heeded. Hopefully, he is right. Since the inception of his geoglyphs, it has been one of the artist's purposes to point to the irreplaceable beauties of the earth, both existent and man-made. By creating contemporary megaliths as markers, Rogers insists on the need to preserve this natural and artistic heritage for ourselves and for the future".
Three examples of the 'Rhythms of Life' geoglyphs are:
Rogers' works are of such proportions that they have been captured in photographs taken by satellite from distances between 440 and 770 km (273–480 miles) above the earth's surface. They can be easily observed in Google Earth's satellite imagery which has been used to create a tour of the 'Rhythms of Life' Land art project. [6]
Maquettes 1996-2015
Land art, variously known as Earth art, environmental art, and Earthworks, is an art movement that emerged in the 1960s and 1970s, largely associated with Great Britain and the United States but that also includes examples from many countries. As a trend, "land art" expanded boundaries of art by the materials used and the siting of the works. The materials used were often the materials of the Earth, including the soil, rocks, vegetation, and water found on-site, and the sites of the works were often distant from population centers. Though sometimes fairly inaccessible, photo documentation was commonly brought back to the urban art gallery.
Langwarrin is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 42 km (26 mi) south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Frankston local government area. Langwarrin recorded a population of 23,588 at the 2021 census.
A geoglyph is a large design or motif – generally longer than 4 metres (13 ft) – produced on the ground by durable elements of the landscape, such as stones, stone fragments, gravel, or earth. A positive geoglyph is formed by the arrangement and alignment of materials on the ground in a manner akin to petroforms, while a negative geoglyph is formed by removing part of the natural ground surface to create differently coloured or textured ground in a manner akin to petroglyphs.
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