The Hill
Date: 1976
Art Form: Installation Art
Horia Damian's Hill was installed on the Plaza of Seagram's Building on 14th October 1976. "Its presence has made the vastness of Park Avenue come alive as it emits subtle particles and completely modifies the spatial ontology of the city. If thousands of people have felt and experienced this impact, it is because between this sculpture and the colossal geometry of the city, a new harmony is confirming its presence.
And if this relatively small work loses none of its monumentality, which on the contrary is magnified, it is because it appears as natural as a work which has no author.
It is precisely this point which constitutes a major event in the art of our time. Indeed, for the first time in the second half of the 20th century, here, in the very center of New York, a new view of the artist towards his work and the rest of the world is being expressed.
This new view implies the disappearance of the artist's personality to pave the way for universal sensitivity which animates all things.
And if this constitutes an event it is because the 20th century, imprisoned in its decline and gripped in a crisis of civilization, has replaced art by the cult of the artist's personality, thus creating a void between the creator and that which he creates. The first consequence of this situation is the inversion of the very terms applied to reality, not only have we forgotten that the universal is the very essence of all individuality, but we have even managed to give individuality priority. This confusion is enhanced when we forget that individuality, by its very nature, is subject to the effects of time where as the very essence of art is to be eternal.
Today's event changes this state of affairs and gives art once again its sole chance of being. In the present context, it makes it possible to realize the supremacy of the spiritual over the temporal and at the same time affirms the new revolutionary line of art in the light of the millennium to come." (Radu Varia)
