dear designboom reader,

land art has playful and vibrant ways to surprise viewers. sometimes, it backdrops a music video the way director owen brown spotlights arizona’s desert installation in his recent short film. our conversation with him sheds light on how he ended up selecting and curating land art on the dry riverbed, teaming up with artist jim denevan and the navajo nation in the process.

at times, land art splits up the terrain with a blood-red cut to question our relationship with nature. it also treats the ground as its canvas, planting a giant footprint to symbolize our ecological impacts on earth. even sheets of steel, stacked together to form a nine-meter-high tower, can become a sculpture, mirroring the gradient shade of the serene surroundings.

happy viewing!

matthew burgos | editor