Vidler outted the collage fragment depicting Earth that looms above at the top of the composition, noting that it was torn from a 1955 issue of Life. As this view of the world entered into mainstream public consciousness via the most popular magazine on the planet it carried with it the tension between rampant consumerism and the Cold War. Entitled a 100 Mile Portrait of Earth, the composite photograph was made from stills taken by an aerial movie camera attached to a rocket. At the time, no other color photo had ever been taken from such a high vantage point.
This popularization and implied democratization of a once-privileged view mixes with a Cold War chill in the exhibition Ends of the Earth: Land Art to 1974 at MOCA's The Geffen Contemporary in Los Angeles. This broad, historical retrospective brings together a generation of artists working under threat of nuclear annihilation, the space race, who possessed an expansionist drive to push outside of the gallery and into the unknowns of landscape.
![Top: Michael Heizer, <em>Levitated Mass</em>, 2012. LACMA, Los Angeles. Copyright Michael Heizer. Above: Les Levine, <em>Systems Burn-off × Residual Software</em>, 1969 / 2012. Recreated for <em>Ends of the Earth: Land Art to 1974</em> at the MOCA, Los Angeles Top: Michael Heizer, <em>Levitated Mass</em>, 2012. LACMA, Los Angeles. Copyright Michael Heizer. Above: Les Levine, <em>Systems Burn-off × Residual Software</em>, 1969 / 2012. Recreated for <em>Ends of the Earth: Land Art to 1974</em> at the MOCA, Los Angeles](/content/dam/domusweb/en/art/2012/08/14/land-art-reconsidered/big_391180_2642_02_web_Systems-burnoff-x-re5FF905.jpg.foto.rmedium.jpg)
![Michael Heizer, <em>Levitated Mass</em>, 2012. LACMA, Los Angeles. Copyright Michael Heizer Michael Heizer, <em>Levitated Mass</em>, 2012. LACMA, Los Angeles. Copyright Michael Heizer](/content/dam/domusweb/en/art/2012/08/14/land-art-reconsidered/big_391180_1646_03_web_Levitated-Mass-1.jpg.foto.rmedium.jpg)
Kaiser and Kwon’s curation underscores the connection between media practice and land art, mending a historic link that was forgotten as the massive works, such as Michael Heizer’s monumental excavation Double Negative (1969–70), included in MOCA’s permanent collection, took centre stage in the public imagination in the past few decades
![Michael Heizer, <em>Levitated Mass</em>, 2012. sketch. Copyright Michael Heizer Michael Heizer, <em>Levitated Mass</em>, 2012. sketch. Copyright Michael Heizer](/content/dam/domusweb/en/art/2012/08/14/land-art-reconsidered/big_391180_1843_04_web_Levitated-Mass-sketch.jpg.foto.rmedium.jpg)
![Michael Snow, <em>La région centrale</em>, 1971. Film in 16 mm. © Michael Snow. Image courtesy the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, NY Michael Snow, <em>La région centrale</em>, 1971. Film in 16 mm. © Michael Snow. Image courtesy the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, NY](/content/dam/domusweb/en/art/2012/08/14/land-art-reconsidered/big_391180_2450_05_web_ED_EE-050-LA-REGION.jpg.foto.rmedium.jpg)
![Patricia Johanson, <em>Stephen Long</em>, 1968. Film in 16 mm transferred to DVD. Museum of Modern Art Film Archive. © Patricia Johanson. Photo courtesy of the artist Patricia Johanson, <em>Stephen Long</em>, 1968. Film in 16 mm transferred to DVD. Museum of Modern Art Film Archive. © Patricia Johanson. Photo courtesy of the artist](/content/dam/domusweb/en/art/2012/08/14/land-art-reconsidered/big_391180_6197_05_web_ED_EE-028_Johanson_StephenLong.jpg.foto.rmedium.jpg)
![Richard Long, <em>A Line the Length of a Straight Walk from the Bottom to the Top of Silbury Hill</em>, 1970. Courtesy of Sperone Westwater, New York. © 2012 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / DACS, London Richard Long, <em>A Line the Length of a Straight Walk from the Bottom to the Top of Silbury Hill</em>, 1970. Courtesy of Sperone Westwater, New York. © 2012 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / DACS, London](/content/dam/domusweb/en/art/2012/08/14/land-art-reconsidered/big_391180_8172_06_web_ED_EE-070-ALineTheLengthOfAStraightWalkFromTheBottomToTheTopOfSilburyHill-WhitechapelArtGallery.jpg.foto.rmedium.jpg)
![Alice Aycock, <em>Clay #2</em>, 1971/2012. Courtesy of the artist Alice Aycock, <em>Clay #2</em>, 1971/2012. Courtesy of the artist](/content/dam/domusweb/en/art/2012/08/14/land-art-reconsidered/big_391180_1277_07_web_ED_EE_Aycock.jpg.foto.rmedium.jpg)
![Helen Mayer Harrison e Newton Harrison, <em>Hog Pasture: Survival Piece #1</em>, 1970–71. Installation view at the <em>Earth, Air, Fire, Water</em> exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA 1971. Photo courtesy of the artists Helen Mayer Harrison e Newton Harrison, <em>Hog Pasture: Survival Piece #1</em>, 1970–71. Installation view at the <em>Earth, Air, Fire, Water</em> exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA 1971. Photo courtesy of the artists](/content/dam/domusweb/en/art/2012/08/14/land-art-reconsidered/big_391180_5582_08_web_EE-201_Harrison_hog-pasture.jpg.foto.rmedium.jpg)