Oct 27, 2010 this week my graduate seminar students at parsons fine arts mfa and i had a great discussion leading from robert smithson s writings on entropy to issues of pessimism about social change and what might be the point of human intervention towards ideals of progressive social activism in an entropically irreversible situation. Download pdf robert smithson free online new books in. Robert smithson robert smithson selected interviews with. Robert smithson, entropic landscape, 1970, pencil on paper, 19 x 24.
Although published posthumously, smithson and sky completed the editing of the text together and smithson provided all the illustrations. Robert smithson s spiral jetty is the poster child for the antiformalist earth art movement of the 1960s and 1970s. Robert smithson spiral jetty, 1970 dia art foundation. Investigating the concepts and material realities of energy coursing through the arts. Glue pour, 1970 adam lauder reappraises robert smithsons glue pour project, noting its resonance with wider narratives of vancouver art and conceptual arts history. Dozens of museums and libraries offer free downloadable. Robert smithson january 2, 1938 july 20, 1973 was an american artist known for sculpture. The collected writings smithson, robert, flam, jack, flam, jack on. Robert smithson spiral jetty, 1970 robert smithson s spiral jetty, located at rozel point on the northeastern shore of great salt lake in utah, is one of the most remarkable examples of land art. Corroded infrastructure 2010robert smithsons writings on entropy. Smithson documented the construction of the sculpture in a 32minute color film also titled spiral jetty. The signatures of robert smithson gary shapiro t has been the fate of a number of twentiethcentury artists that the stronger their attacks on the history and traditions. Spiral jetty, robert smithson the monumental earthwork spiral jetty 1970 was created by artist robert smithson and is located off rozel point in the north arm of great salt lake. Review by john haber of robert smithson at the whitney museum, with thoughts on spiral jetty, minimalism, earthworks, sitespecific art, and outdoor sculpture brought indoors, and of floating island, the realization of an earthwork by robert smithson, in the hudson river, in the east river, and near hudson river park, new york city, by nancy holt, minetta brook arts organization, the.
Robert smithsons environmental history oxford art journal. A coil of earth, salt, and stone that smithson built into great salt lake, utah, the piece is a tribute to the movements scale and engineering as well as to its visionary union of art and nature. With contributions from scholars and critics from the visual arts, art history, anthropology, music, literature, and the history of. Similarly, jarry, who considered a career in science and. This innovative study of two of the most important artists of the twentieth century links the art practices of allan kaprow and robert smithson in their attempts to test the limits of artboth what it is and where it is. His innovations in both the practice and theory of art have been mentioned with great respect by many artists and art historians. Robert smithson from wikipedia, the free encyclopedia robert smithson january 2, 1938 july 20, 1973 was an american artist famous for his use of photography in relation to sculpture and land art. Works on paper, 1957 73, curated by eugenie tsai at. Despite their seeming incommensurability, i find smithsons utilization of entropy and. He grew up in new jersey but the essay or journal like text accompanying the photos creates the impression of. Robert smithson, spiral jetty in 2004, rozel point, great salt lake, utah. Robert smithson, entropy and the new monuments, from \unpublished writings in robert smithson. Smithsons work has been the subject of numerous monographic exhibitions, including robert smithson sculpture, curated by robert hobbs at cornell university, the whitney museum of american art, new york, ny, and the walker art center, minneapolis, mi 1980. Robert smithson entropy and the new monuments entropy.
Entropy and the second law of thermodynamics the second law of thermodynamics in thermochemistry we have seen that reactions are infl uenced by the comparative enthalpies of reactants and products. Affective entropy minerva access university of melbourne. Robert smithson entropy essay official web site for the estate of robert smithson, renowned earthwork artist, presenting images and text of earthworksland art. Robert smithson january 2, 1938 july 20, 1973 was an american artist known for sculpture and land art who often used drawing and photography in relation to the spatial arts. Land art resides within, or on top of, landscapes, which are themselves sites with histories and identities that precede the land art use. Arts, visual and performing artistic photography criticism and interpretation landscape photography photography landscapes photography, artistic. For much of this and his later life, smithson was known more as a critic than an artist. Zone books and, mit press, 1997 see to download pdf of this out of print book as well as of smithsons essay, a tour of the monuments of passaic, new jersey, originally published as the monuments of passaic, artforum. The land art movement of the 1960s and 1970s challenged traditional art notions of objectness, commodification, and permanence. His work has been internationally exhibited in galleries and museums and is held in public. Robert smithson and the angloamerican picturesque pdf. An analysis of the role of entropy in 1960s american abstract art. Holt and smithson developed innovative ways of exploring our relationship with the planet, expanding the limits of artistic practice.
With the assistance of a team operating dump trucks, a front loader, and. This interview took place about two months before smithson s death. Click download or read online button to robert smithson book pdf for free now. Robert smithson entropy and the new monuments free download as pdf file. Robert smithson spiral jetty, 1970 one of the most remarkable examples of land art is robert smithson s spiral jetty, located at rozel point peninsula on the northeastern shore of great salt lake. A read is counted each time someone views a publication summary such as the title, abstract, and list of authors, clicks on a figure, or views or downloads the fulltext. Read and learn for free about the following article. By the late sixties smithson was beginning to design his earthworks, and he published a sedimentation of the mind in 1968. Robert smithsons untitled zigzag mirror displacement probably constructed and photographed at the abandoned open cast mine near tredegar, wales. Yvealain bois and rosalind krauss, entropy, formless. Holtsmithson foundation exists to continue the creative and investigative spirit of the artists nancy holt 19382014 and robert smithson 193873.
Aug 27, 2015 in a tour of the monuments of passaic robert smithson represents place deliberately in an antithetical way to one which resonates familiarity, memory or history. Smithson viewed entropy as a form of transformation of society and culture, which is shown in. Various agents, both fictional and real, somehow trade places with each otherone cannot avoid muddy thinking when it comes to earth projects, or what i will call abstract geology. Earth projects the earths surface and the figments of the mind have a way of disintegrating into discrete regions of art.
Robert smithson s earthwork spiral jetty 1970 is located at rozel point peninsula on the northeastern shore of great salt lake. Robert smithson monumentual earthwork is located on the great salt lake in utah rozel point. In 1970, assisted by a crew operating dump trucks, a tractor, and a front loader. Abstract art is given in robert smithsons essay entropy and. Made of black basalt rocks and earth gathered from the site, spiral jetty is a 15footwide coil that stretches more than 1,500 feet into the lake. Smithson, robert 1996a, entropy made visible, interview with alison sky, in jack d flam ed. Robert smithson 19381973 produced his bestknown work during the 1960s and early 1970s, a period in which the boundaries of the art world and the objectives of artmaking were questioned perhaps more consistently and thoroughly than any time before or since. Using black basalt rocks salt crystals and earth mud from the site, the artisit created a coil 1,500 feet long and 15 feet wide that stretches out counterclockwise into the translucent red water. Allan kaprow, robert smithson, and the limits to art by. Spiral jetty is an earthwork sculpture constructed in april 1970 that is considered to be the most important work of american sculptor robert smithson. Corroded infrastructure 2010robert smithsons writings on entropy, 196667. Over a century later, robert smithson most famous for his earthwork. Probabilistic description of thermodynamic entropy 10.
Robert smithson and the gold rush mobile lives forum. Aug 17, 2015 the question of whether or not art museums should be free tends to get people riled up. Gianfranco gorgonis seminal photogaph of robert smithsons iconic earth work. Corroded infrastructure 2010robert smithsons writings on. Robert smithson download robert smithson ebook pdf or read online books in pdf, epub, and mobi format. Smithson robert 1966 1996 entropy and the new monuments. Robert smithson, entropy and the new monuments1966.
Passaic river in new jersey by artforum international. Dec 18, 2008 after an art hiatus, smithson returned as a proponent of minimalism in 1964 and worked as a sculpture. His work spiral jetty 1970 in great salt lake, utah, is a milestone in recent art history, and has been reproduced in countless reference works. He calls the monuments the opposite of the romantic ruin. Using over six thousand tons of black basalt rocks and earth from the site, smithson formed a coil 1,500 feet long and 15 feet wide that winds counterclockwise off the shore into the water. Diversityindex entropy is one of several ways to measure diversity. Fyi you have to register for but its free and an amazing.