Abstract

This article concerns the contemporary art of Robert Irwin and Fritz Haeg, both of whose practices have involved the design of gardens. These landscapes are paradigmatic of a strain of contemporary art that shifts the focus from object to experience or from representation to presentation. I argue that spending time with this kind of art allows for the cultivation of a state of perceptual immediacy that allows for the spontaneity to freely respond to situations and events on a case-by-case basis in a way that is not predetermined by ideological biases.