Playing with nature
I'm standing on the shore and I see a pool of water that reaches to the far-off horizon. This pool of water is serious; it is a large rectangular surface that is both silencing and dangerous.
The curve by Robert Smithson is made of the same nature but has a merry shape. It is vulnerable against the forces of nature.
I'll stay on the waterfront without the Spiral Jetty, but will get into the water with it. Now, I dare to attempt.
On the left-hand side a long-wave is licking on the small dyke. On the right hand side I see that just a silent shore is made by another wave.
During the walk on the spiral I feel how Spiral Jetty is becoming a part of nature. On some places it endures bravely and on other places the small dyke collapses when I stand on it.
This cheerful artwork is playing with this serious nature.
By Theo, www.artatsite.com
Vertaling
Spelen met de natuur
Ik sta aan de kust en zie een krul in een waterplas die tot aan de verre horizon reikt. Deze waterplas is serieus; het is een groot rechthoekig vlak dat zowel verstillend als gevaarlijk kan zijn.
De krul van Robert Smithson is gemaakt uit dezelfde natuur maar heeft een vrolijke vorm. Het is kwetsbaar tegenover de natuurkrachten.
Zonder Spiral Jetty blijf ik aan de waterkant maar ga de zee niet in. Nu waag ik een poging.
Aan de linkerzijde likt een lange golf voorzichtig aan het dijkje. Aan de rechterhand zie ik dat zojuist een verstilt strandje is gemaakt door een andere golf.
Tijdens de wandeling over de spiraal voel ik hoe Spiral Jetty onderdeel wordt van de natuur. Op sommige plaatsen houdt het dapper stand en op andere plaatsen zakt het dijkje langzaam in terwijl ik erop sta.
Dit vrolijke kunstwerk speelt met deze serieuze natuur.
Door Theo, www.artatsite.com
www.wikipedia.org:
Spiral Jetty is an earthwork sculpture constructed in April 1970 that is considered to be the most important work of American sculptor Robert Smithson. Smithson documented the construction of the sculpture in a 32-minute color film also titled Spiral Jetty.
www.diaart.org:
Robert Smithson s Spiral Jetty (1970) is a site-specific sculpture that is located at Rozel Point on the northeastern shore of the Great Salt Lake. Made of black basalt rocks, salt crystals, earth, and water, Spiral Jetty is a 1,500-foot-long coil, measuring approximately 15 feet wide, that stretches into the lake. The fractured rocky landscape and changing water levels of the Great Salt Lake appealed to Smithson s interest in entropy, where the forces of nature can change the work at any moment in time.
www.umfa.utah.edu:
Rozel Point attracted Smithson for a number of reasons, including its remote location and the reddish quality of the water in that section of the lake (an effect of algae). Using natural materials from the site, Smithson designed Spiral Jetty to extend into the lake several inches above the waterline. However, the earthwork is affected by seasonal fluctuations in the lake level, which can alternately submerge the work or leave it completely exposed and covered in salt crystals. The close communion between Spiral Jetty and the super-saline Great Salt Lake emphasizes the entropic processes of erosion and physical disorder with which Smithson was continually fascinated.
www.holtsmithsonfoundation.org:
Built at the mouth of a terminal basin rich in minerals and nearly devoid of life, Spiral Jetty is a testament to Smithson s fascination with entropy. Its precarious location lends itself to the structure s inevitable disintegration, yet its impressive size and deliberate shape command the surrounding landscape. Constructed from 6,650 tons of rock and earth, the spiral continuously changes form as nature, industry, and time take effect.
www.smarthistory.org:
Up until that moment, the essay, the film, and the Gorgoni photograph were the entirety of my experience with Smithson s Spiral Jetty, which is probably true for all but a small population who ve sought out the physical experience of the gesture. 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 d imagine he d be quite satisfied with the transient nature of his jetty how it disappears and reappears at nature s 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 t be certain the work would be here waiting for my return in the distant future, I d better take another promenade on the rocks.
www.youtube.com:
The famous earthwork, Spiral Jetty, by Robert Smithson, was built in 1970. At the time, it was partially submerged by the Great Salt Lake. Today the distinct land art occupies a dry lake bed, a reference point of how much the largest saline lake in the Western Hemisphere has receded over the past four decades. Can Utah State University researchers find ways to help reverse the lake s steady retreat before it s too late? www.wikipedia.org:
In 1999, the artwork was donated to the Dia Art Foundation; it is one of 12 locations and sites owned by the foundation. Since its initial construction, those interested in its fate have dealt with questions of proposed changes in land use in the area surrounding the sculpture.
In 2008, plans were announced for exploratory oil drilling approximately five miles from the jetty. This was met with strong resistance from artists, and the state of Utah received more than 3,000 emails about the plan, most of them opposing the drilling. The issue of preservation has been complicated by ambiguous statements by Smithson, who expressed an admiration for entropy in that he intended his works to mimic earthly attributes in that they remain in a state of arrested disruption and not be kept from destruction.
www.wikipedia.org:
While time and space are seen as key in the discussion of modern sculpture, it raises challenges for analyzing Spiral Jetty through photographs as it suggests another temporality and hence different values. As Krauss explains: "In using the form of the spiral to imitate the settlers' mythic whirlpool, Smithson incorporates the existence of the myth into the space of the work. In doing so, he expands on the nature of that external space located at our bodies' centers, which had been part of the Double Negative's image. Smithson creates an image of our psychological response to time and of the way we are determined to control it by the creation of historical fantasies. But the Spiral Jetty attempts to supplant historical formulas with the experience of a moment-to-moment passage through space and time." However, the site experience and the referents are not self-sufficient, as art historian Ann Morris Reynolds says: Although I acknowledged that these descriptions were partial and distanced from their referent ... I still felt they provided visual and conceptual proxies, images and ideas, that seemed sufficient. September for the very first time, I was deeply aware of the fact that neither my on-site experience nor the descriptions that I was familiar with, both old and new, were self-sufficient or even clearly distinct. www.wikipedia.org:
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. His work has been internationally exhibited in galleries and museums and is held in public collections. He was one of the founders of the land art movement whose best known work is the Spiral Jetty (1970).
He primarily identified as a painter during this time, and his early exhibited artworks had a wide range of influences, including science fiction, Catholic art and Pop art. He produced drawings and collage works that incorporated images from natural history, science fiction films, classical art, religious iconography, and pornography including "homoerotic clippings from beefcake magazines".
Spiral Jetty (1970) is an earthwork in the form of a 1,500-foot-long (460 m), 15-foot-wide (4.6 m) counterclockwise spiral of local basalt rocks and mud, forming a jetty that juts from the shore of the Great Salt Lake near Rozel Point in Utah. Over the years it has accumulated a patina of salt crystals when the level of the lake is low. Some art historians consider the Spiral Jetty to be the most important work by Smithson. He documented the construction of the sculpture in a 32-minute color film also titled Spiral Jetty. Smithson wrote that he deliberately chose the site due to its proximity to a derelict oil jetty. In later years oil and gas extraction has threatened the area.
I'm standing on the shore and I see a pool of water that reaches to the far-off horizon. This pool of water is serious; it is a large rectangular surface that is both silencing and dangerous.
The curve by Robert Smithson is made of the same nature but has a merry shape. It is vulnerable against the forces of nature.
I'll stay on the waterfront without the Spiral Jetty, but will get into the water with it. Now, I dare to attempt.
On the left-hand side a long-wave is licking on the small dyke. On the right hand side I see that just a silent shore is made by another wave.
During the walk on the spiral I feel how Spiral Jetty is becoming a part of nature. On some places it endures bravely and on other places the small dyke collapses when I stand on it.
This cheerful artwork is playing with this serious nature.
By Theo, www.artatsite.com
Vertaling
Spelen met de natuur
Ik sta aan de kust en zie een krul in een waterplas die tot aan de verre horizon reikt. Deze waterplas is serieus; het is een groot rechthoekig vlak dat zowel verstillend als gevaarlijk kan zijn.
De krul van Robert Smithson is gemaakt uit dezelfde natuur maar heeft een vrolijke vorm. Het is kwetsbaar tegenover de natuurkrachten.
Zonder Spiral Jetty blijf ik aan de waterkant maar ga de zee niet in. Nu waag ik een poging.
Aan de linkerzijde likt een lange golf voorzichtig aan het dijkje. Aan de rechterhand zie ik dat zojuist een verstilt strandje is gemaakt door een andere golf.
Tijdens de wandeling over de spiraal voel ik hoe Spiral Jetty onderdeel wordt van de natuur. Op sommige plaatsen houdt het dapper stand en op andere plaatsen zakt het dijkje langzaam in terwijl ik erop sta.
Dit vrolijke kunstwerk speelt met deze serieuze natuur.
Door Theo, www.artatsite.com
www.wikipedia.org:
Spiral Jetty is an earthwork sculpture constructed in April 1970 that is considered to be the most important work of American sculptor Robert Smithson. Smithson documented the construction of the sculpture in a 32-minute color film also titled Spiral Jetty.
www.diaart.org:
Robert Smithson s Spiral Jetty (1970) is a site-specific sculpture that is located at Rozel Point on the northeastern shore of the Great Salt Lake. Made of black basalt rocks, salt crystals, earth, and water, Spiral Jetty is a 1,500-foot-long coil, measuring approximately 15 feet wide, that stretches into the lake. The fractured rocky landscape and changing water levels of the Great Salt Lake appealed to Smithson s interest in entropy, where the forces of nature can change the work at any moment in time.
www.umfa.utah.edu:
Rozel Point attracted Smithson for a number of reasons, including its remote location and the reddish quality of the water in that section of the lake (an effect of algae). Using natural materials from the site, Smithson designed Spiral Jetty to extend into the lake several inches above the waterline. However, the earthwork is affected by seasonal fluctuations in the lake level, which can alternately submerge the work or leave it completely exposed and covered in salt crystals. The close communion between Spiral Jetty and the super-saline Great Salt Lake emphasizes the entropic processes of erosion and physical disorder with which Smithson was continually fascinated.
www.holtsmithsonfoundation.org:
Built at the mouth of a terminal basin rich in minerals and nearly devoid of life, Spiral Jetty is a testament to Smithson s fascination with entropy. Its precarious location lends itself to the structure s inevitable disintegration, yet its impressive size and deliberate shape command the surrounding landscape. Constructed from 6,650 tons of rock and earth, the spiral continuously changes form as nature, industry, and time take effect.
www.smarthistory.org:
Up until that moment, the essay, the film, and the Gorgoni photograph were the entirety of my experience with Smithson s Spiral Jetty, which is probably true for all but a small population who ve sought out the physical experience of the gesture. 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 d imagine he d be quite satisfied with the transient nature of his jetty how it disappears and reappears at nature s 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 t be certain the work would be here waiting for my return in the distant future, I d better take another promenade on the rocks.
www.youtube.com:
The famous earthwork, Spiral Jetty, by Robert Smithson, was built in 1970. At the time, it was partially submerged by the Great Salt Lake. Today the distinct land art occupies a dry lake bed, a reference point of how much the largest saline lake in the Western Hemisphere has receded over the past four decades. Can Utah State University researchers find ways to help reverse the lake s steady retreat before it s too late? www.wikipedia.org:
In 1999, the artwork was donated to the Dia Art Foundation; it is one of 12 locations and sites owned by the foundation. Since its initial construction, those interested in its fate have dealt with questions of proposed changes in land use in the area surrounding the sculpture.
In 2008, plans were announced for exploratory oil drilling approximately five miles from the jetty. This was met with strong resistance from artists, and the state of Utah received more than 3,000 emails about the plan, most of them opposing the drilling. The issue of preservation has been complicated by ambiguous statements by Smithson, who expressed an admiration for entropy in that he intended his works to mimic earthly attributes in that they remain in a state of arrested disruption and not be kept from destruction.
www.wikipedia.org:
While time and space are seen as key in the discussion of modern sculpture, it raises challenges for analyzing Spiral Jetty through photographs as it suggests another temporality and hence different values. As Krauss explains: "In using the form of the spiral to imitate the settlers' mythic whirlpool, Smithson incorporates the existence of the myth into the space of the work. In doing so, he expands on the nature of that external space located at our bodies' centers, which had been part of the Double Negative's image. Smithson creates an image of our psychological response to time and of the way we are determined to control it by the creation of historical fantasies. But the Spiral Jetty attempts to supplant historical formulas with the experience of a moment-to-moment passage through space and time." However, the site experience and the referents are not self-sufficient, as art historian Ann Morris Reynolds says: Although I acknowledged that these descriptions were partial and distanced from their referent ... I still felt they provided visual and conceptual proxies, images and ideas, that seemed sufficient. September for the very first time, I was deeply aware of the fact that neither my on-site experience nor the descriptions that I was familiar with, both old and new, were self-sufficient or even clearly distinct. www.wikipedia.org:
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. His work has been internationally exhibited in galleries and museums and is held in public collections. He was one of the founders of the land art movement whose best known work is the Spiral Jetty (1970).
He primarily identified as a painter during this time, and his early exhibited artworks had a wide range of influences, including science fiction, Catholic art and Pop art. He produced drawings and collage works that incorporated images from natural history, science fiction films, classical art, religious iconography, and pornography including "homoerotic clippings from beefcake magazines".
Spiral Jetty (1970) is an earthwork in the form of a 1,500-foot-long (460 m), 15-foot-wide (4.6 m) counterclockwise spiral of local basalt rocks and mud, forming a jetty that juts from the shore of the Great Salt Lake near Rozel Point in Utah. Over the years it has accumulated a patina of salt crystals when the level of the lake is low. Some art historians consider the Spiral Jetty to be the most important work by Smithson. He documented the construction of the sculpture in a 32-minute color film also titled Spiral Jetty. Smithson wrote that he deliberately chose the site due to its proximity to a derelict oil jetty. In later years oil and gas extraction has threatened the area.