{"id":1248,"date":"2015-10-19T22:42:09","date_gmt":"2015-10-19T22:42:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.candelalearning.com\/zelixart102\/?post_type=chapter&p=1248"},"modified":"2016-02-23T16:33:58","modified_gmt":"2016-02-23T16:33:58","slug":"robert-smithson","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/atd-herkimer-arthistory2\/chapter\/robert-smithson\/","title":{"raw":"Robert Smithson","rendered":"Robert Smithson"},"content":{"raw":"Dr. Beth Harris and Dr. Shana Gallagher-Lindsay provide a description, historical perspective, and analysis of Robert Smithson's Spiral Jetty<\/em>.\r\n\r\nhttps:\/\/youtu.be\/NUu0_Zn55yM\r\n\r\nRobert Smithson, Spiral Jetty<\/em>, 1970 (Great Salt Lake, Utah)\r\n

A Monument to Paradox and Transience<\/h2>\r\nA loud abrasive buzzing bellows from the nightstand and I raise my head, only to be blinded by the red light emanating from the small\u2014in size, not volume\u2014machine against a backdrop of pure blackness. 4:00 A.M. Oy. I\u2019m immediately beset by the eternal morning conflict: ten more minutes of sleep vs. the rush of adrenaline that wants to start the adventures that await. The latter quickly usurps the former as I realize today is September 25th, a day I\u2019ve waited for my entire life (metaphorically speaking) and actually been counting down to since the spring. It\u2019s Spiral Jetty day.\r\n\r\nI bound out of bed,\u00a0Gianfranco Gorgoni\u2019s seminal photograph<\/a>\u00a0of Robert Smithson\u2019s iconic earth work on repeat in my head as I shower and \u201cpack\u201d for the daylong adventure that will take me to a remote area of Utah. I meet the rest of my party at the gate at LAX and it\u2019s immediately clear from the conversation that we\u2019ve all arrived at this moment with decades of expectation accumulated. How would the experience compare to the visions (particular to each person) we had all conjured up over the years? Would the jetty \u201cdeliver\u201d the transformative experience we all sought? Or would it fall victim to a case of excessively high and unattainable expectations? Time would tell.\r\n\r\nBut, it would indeed take time. An hour at the airport, followed by an hour plus on the plane, then a two plus hour bus ride over the bumpiest \u201ctrail\u201d\u2014it certainly wasn\u2019t a road!\u2014imaginable, and ultimately a fifteen minute hike. Nearly eight hours after my day had begun, it came into view. At last, Spiral Jetty.\r\n\r\nBut . . . it was so, so, so small. That couldn\u2019t possibly be it! Naturally the distance made the work appear smaller and it \u201cgrew\u201d as we approached, but even as we stood perched on the rocks right above it, it seemed utterly dominated by the landscape. Yet another surprise, the water from the Great Salt Lake no longer permeated the rocks, but was a significant distance beyond. Between the Jetty and the lake, there was a blanket of white\u2014a picture-perfect postcard image of a quiet winter\u2019s morn, and yet, the \u201csnow\u201d wasn\u2019t melted by the sun blazing down from above. Upon closer inspection, the \u201csnow\u201d was actually crystallized salt that brilliantly reflected the sun\u2019s rays and the nearby water.\r\n\r\nWe walked about the Jetty with the sun hot upon our skin, the smell of the salt air filling our nose and lungs, and the feel of salt crystals on our fingers (having knelt to examine the minerals that carpeted the environ). An all-consuming, olfactory experience. We then decided to make our way across the white blanket to the water\u2019s edge, fighting off fears that the salt, which had the distinct characteristics of ice\u2014would \u201cbreak\u201d and we would plunge into the Great Salt Lake below (which was a physical impossibility since the water wasn\u2019t below). \u00a0From a distance the water had appeared a brilliant blue, but as we neared, gradations of color began to appear\u2014shades of blue, purple, pink, and red\u2014a traveler\u2019s mirage, of sorts, and undeniably picturesque.\r\n\r\nWe found our way up to a piece of land overlooking the jetty and sat down on the rocks to enjoy our sandwiches and \u201cdebate\u201d Smithson\u2019s intentions and ethical issues in conserving the work with several scholars. One of them compared Smithson\u2019s Spiral Jetty to Monet\u2019s Rouen Cathedral series which conveyed the same location at various times of day so that he could capture the specific lighting and other nuances of a particular moment. He said, \u201cSmithson\u2019s doing that here but he\u2019s not doing it on canvas, he\u2019s doing it out there in the elements themselves\u2026it has that same type of specificity too it, and yet specificity that is subject to all kinds of permutations.\u201d The question was raised about Smithson\u2019s vision for the work, his view on its ephemerality, and whether he ever envisioned groups such as ours making the journey out to this incredibly remote location to experience his work.\r\n\r\nWe were reminded that the physical jetty is only part of the work, which is actually a triad of the \u201csculpture\u201d in the landscape, an essay by Smithson, and a film documenting the project. But, as time has marched on, the work has become embodied in the minds of the general public in a single photograph, the aforementioned image taken by Gorgoni who hovered about the work in a helicopter and captured the piece from the perfect angle so that it looked colossal, while the hills looked minuscule.\r\n\r\nThis is due, in large part, to the fact that the jetty became submerged only a few years after it was made, and remained that way for decades. Only in the past ten years has it resurfaced and been \u201cavailable\u201d for visitation. Though Smithson may not have ever intended or even considered that people would take the time (and trouble) to visit, which begs the question that Loe posed to us, \u201cWho is this work for?\u201d Coolidge said the work was for Gorgoni, that Smithson had literally made it for the photograph. They all agreed that the sculpture itself is the \u201cgesture,\u201d but the documentation is every bit as much a part of it.\r\n\r\nUp until that moment, the essay, the film, and the Gorgoni photograph were the entirety of my experience with Smithson\u2019s Spiral Jetty, which is probably true for all but a small population who\u2019ve sought out the physical experience of the \u201cgesture.\u201d An object whose identity is so deeply intertwined with its documentation is fraught with complexities and paradox, but given interest in ephemerality and entropy, I\u2019d imagine he\u2019d be quite satisfied with the transient nature of his jetty\u2014how it disappears and reappears at nature\u2019s will. Such is the foundation for arguing against any conservation of the earth work, and allowing it to emerge and submerge with the tides. And yet, the thought of the work vanishing for another thirty years beneath the lake devastates me. With this debate reeling in my head, I made my way back down to the jetty. If I couldn\u2019t be certain the work would be here waiting for my return in the distant future, I\u2019d better take another promenade on the rocks.\r\n\r\nThis time I separated from my friends, put down my camera, and walked the spiral in absolute silence. Though physically alone, I felt the overwhelming presence of several invisible companions: Mother Nature herself, the spirit of Robert Smithson that is somehow pervades the rocks, and God. I thought about each of them in a way that the loud noise of my crowded, urban existence prohibits. I found the transcendental calm within that often only comes to me upon reading an Emerson poem, hearing a choir sing Amazing Grace, or staring into the floating color-field abyss of a Mark Rothko painting.\r\n\r\nI began the walk back to the bus with my colleagues. We found ourselves humbled by the beauty of nature and the power of art, and hailed Smithson for giving us a reason to find our way to this breathtaking place.\r\n\r\nOn the bumpy ride back towards town, I realized that I had made a pilgrimage in search of a monument, an icon of culture and history, but found pleasure in the aesthetic of transience instead. Spiral Jetty looked nothing like I\u2019d imagined\u2014a.k.a. the Gorgoni photograph \u2013 and I\u2019m grateful. Grateful because I saw the work on September 25, 2010 and no one will ever replicate the experience of seeing it on that day, for it reinvents itself with every change of light, tide, and weather.","rendered":"

Dr. Beth Harris and Dr. Shana Gallagher-Lindsay provide a description, historical perspective, and analysis of Robert Smithson’s Spiral Jetty<\/em>.<\/p>\n