The John Michael Kohler Arts Center’s collection of artist-built environments represents extraordinary exceptions to the most common fate of places like these. Many sites are dismantled, usually occasioned by an artist’s death. The disparate elements are then scattered, often among multiple private collections or institutions. The Arts Center collection, with so many complete or nearly complete examples of artists’ lifeworks, is unparalleled.

The objects included in this area of curatorial response have been separated from the majority of the other objects from their site. In some cases, all the work from the original sites is scattered so fully that there isn’t a critical mass of it anywhere. These instances are often attended by a lack of site documentation, and in most instances, important aspects of the environment’s physical site have been demolished or otherwise destroyed.

Through a rotating focus on specific artists, questions of authorship, ethics, conservation, and context can be examined. It is hoped that the cautionary tales represented by these disparate sites will inspire others to uncover spaces such as these to document and advocate for their protection.