Land art reminds you to maybe go offline sometimes
Leon Keer, a Dutch pop-surrealist and land artist, has created a simple but monumental piece with a very clear message. Conceived for the Vision Art Festival in the Swiss alps of Crans-Montana, 'offline' anamorphic land art, will make visitors do a double take when they see a WiFi symbol seemingly floating in mid-air at the pristine resort.
Keer being a surrealist, not all is as it seems. The symbol has actually been painted directly onto the landscape using "100 percent eco-friendly, biodegradable and sustainable paint," said the artist. And since it uses techniques of forced perspective, you must be positioned in a very specific spot to see the symbol as intended.
Seen from above, the piece is flattened and stretched out to account for the slope of the hills. The technique borrows from street art techniques that use perspective and angles to create vertigo-inducing optical illusions. It also owes a debt to the ancient technique of "hill figures" carved into terrain since prehistoric times. One of the best-known examples of that is the Uffington White Horse, created up to 3,000 years ago.
Keer and assistant Massina made the 20,000 square foot piece in about three days, showing the process in the video, below. Keer has created similar anamorphic (illusion) land art pieces in the past and done the same in urban and industrial settings, as you can see in his Instagram.
'offline' anamorphic land art is a gentle reminder that just because you can access the internet in a rugged alpine location doesn't mean that you should. "These beautiful surroundings of the Swiss alps make you humble towards nature and the beauty in life," the artist said on his website.
