7/29/2019 6_LandArt_Smithson.pdf

1/5

ROBERTMITHSONLandReclamationnd he SublimeTHOMAS REHER

LAND RECLAMATIONFor the group exhibit ionof contemporary art Sonsbeek'71 in the Dutch city of Arnhem, Robert Smithson ealizedBroken Circle and Spiral Hill in an inactivesand-pit nEmmen.On a conicalmound,a spiralpath runscounter-clockwise.At the top of the Spiral Hill is an observationplatform, from which the best view of Broken Circle,locatedon the edge of the flooded gravel pit, underneathan embankment, s possible. wo circular egments adam and a canal are la idout aroundan innercircle,which is divided nto two segments f water and earth.That which is water in the one half, s earth in the otherhalf. n Broken Circle, wo semicircles orrespond o oneanother formally and are simultaneouslypposed n termsof material,Somewhat removed from the center of thecircle iesa largeboulder. The rock is one of the largestofits kind in Holland. t was carried here during he lce Ageby a glacierwhich ran diagonally crosspresent-dayHolland.Th e materialized resence f a center disturbedSmithson.Th e expense o remove the erratic block,however, wa s too great. Finally, e thought: t becameadark spot of exasperation, a geological gangrene on thesandy expanse...akind of glacial heart of darkness'- awarning from the lce Age.lTh e centripetal,upward windingspiralpath an d th ecentrifugalBroken Circle 2 with its dam and canal,complementeachother as much as they neutralize ac hother.Th e sand-pitwa s already ntendedas a rec reationareawhen Smithson hose he site. In reaction o the localpopulation's cceptance f th e project, Smithson'scontribution o the exhibit ionwa s maintaineo s apermanent nstallation.Th e government of the US Stat e of Ohio resolved n April1972 hat owners of abandonedminingpits must adoptprecautionarymeasures ince,with high miningwalls,poisonous cidsare formed as a result of the combiningofcarbon and air. These acidscontribute o the hot-houseeffect. Since hen, in Ohio, the gradientof abandonedminingpi ts must not exceed35". In 1977,PresidentCarter signed he SurfaceMining Control and ReclamationAct, which specif ieshat revenue ro m operatingcoalminesbe chargeda supplementaryax and that theindividual ederalstatesbe responsibleor the regulationofthese measures. he money collected rom thissupplementary ax is accrued o the Department of thelnterior's Office of SurfaceMining. This 'department'distr ibuteshe money to th e 'Abandoned Mined LandsReclamation ouncils' AMLR) of the federal states. n26

many states,only superficialmeasures re required. Insome cases, he f ines or neglectare lessexpensive ha nthe measures hemselves.3Beginningn 1972,Smithsonattempted to win Americanfirms for Land Reclamation projects.Of Smithson'sprojectsbeingplanned us t before his accidental eath,aTailingPond in Creede, Colorado had the greatest chancesfor becoming ealized.Th e Tail ingPond contains esidues,which ar e produced as a resultof the erosionof metalore. Over a per iodof 25 years,ninemil l ion ons were tobe conducted o the terracing.A circular da m taperinginto road' with a diameter of 2000 feet (50.8meters)wa sto be directed around the terraces,with their concavedownward leading urves. n addition,a street wa splanned,which wa s to bisect his circleand th e 'gradedbasin'around t .sThe KennecottCopper Corporation declined ts support.For their enormous BinghamMine' rn Utah, wi th i ts hreemile wide hole, Smithsonhad suggested circular ake.6Four dams comprisedof circular egmentswere to leadinto a center consisting nly of water. With this liquidcenter between curved dams, he mining erraceswouldhave appearedas the outer ringsof an inwardly counter-clockwise) r outwardly (clockwise)otating whirlpool.Smithson's roposals or Land Reclamation rojectsofminingpits formed as a resultof inexpensive urfaceminingmade more expensive estoration,such as refill ing,orexample, unnecessary. ombinesactive n the miningofraw materialsnevertheless referred o transform hedevastated and nto recreationai reas; hey could thenadvertisewith this that they would be leaving he land n amuch better condit ion han it ever had before.TSmithson,on the other hand,planned ark- l ikemonuments,n whichthe lossof non-regenerativeesourceswould not behushed p.Th e 'KingCounty Arts Commission f Seattle'organizedEarthworks: Land Reclamationas Sculpture with sevenartists n 1979.For this exhibit ion,Robert Morris realizedaproject within a defunctcoal mine on the edge of KentValley.Except or the largest rees, Morris had allvegetation emoved. The remaining rees were cut to aheightof approximately6 feet (l.B meters) and p aintedblackwith creosote,The miningpi t wa s divjded nto si xdescendingerracesand plantedwith clover.sThe green,terraced mine becamea memorial o the exploitationofnature.In terms of his Earth Ar t projects,MichaelHeizer, unlikeMorris, was interestedsolely n art ist icaspects, ven whenworking in abandonedmines: don't support reclamation-art sculpture projects.9

7/29/2019 6_LandArt_Smithson.pdf

2/5

!'1 :

Robert SMITHSON Eroken Circle, l97l-72and SpiralHill, l97l (Emmen,Holland) CourtesyJohnWeber Gallery,New York

Morris'projects nd especially eizer'sprojectEffigyTumuli n the Buffalo ockMesa 1983-85)hrow lightupon the financing f LandReclamationn AmericaafterCarter's igningf the 1977Act. The Foundationf theOttawaSilica ompany, hichowned he former coalmines long he lllinois'River,elected ndpaid he artist.Furthermore,he y donated he land o the Stateof lll inois,which ntegratedt into th e 'BuffaloRockStatePark'.r0 nthe landdecontaminatedy AMLR,Heizer ormed iveforms ecallingegional nimalsrom wallsof earthwithlinear dges. he diffractedgestalt 'rof the largeearthwallscan only be seen ryldfView from an aircraft.Earlier,the lndians f the northern art of lll ino is adalsobuiltsuchwallsof earth epresentingnimalorms 'effigytumuli '):Heizerwa snot making eferenceso ecology, utrather o history.Smithson ecameor Morrisa stimulusor ecologicallybased utdoorart, whichwould hinder urtherdamagecaused y the nonregenerativexploitation f natur e.l2This ecological,ontextual rt transformshe devastatedland nto public, rass overed penspaces, ithoutconcealinghe consequencesf the devastation.Interventions reducedo the ecologicallyecessary,ithaccents lso e ferringo the exploitation f nature.WhereasSmithson as nterestedn both ecologicalndaestheticuestionsf landscaperchitecturend planning,Morris imitedhimselfo exploringhe difference etweeneconomyand ecology.Heizer'sEffigyTumuli,on the otherhand,withdrawsrom ecologicalonfl ictsn a historyorientedoarksituation.

THESUBLIMEND THEPICTURESQUEIn his astarticle,Frederick aw Olmstedand theDialecticalandscape,l3mithson stablishesrelationshipboth to aesthetic iscoursey means f the sublime swell as o the tradition f the picturesque.mithsonanalyzes ew York's CentralPark' Manhattan,B5B-1874), hichwas aidout by Olmsted nd CalvertVauxover a 'man-madewasteland'ran th e faceof strongopposition n th e part of speculators.mithsonefers othe - for Olmsted aradigmatic treatisesn thepicturesquey the Englrshmani l l iamGilpin 1724-1804)and Sir Uvedale rice 1747-1829).ollowing dmundBurke's17291797)efinitionsf the concepts f thebeautifulnd he sublimersGiloin nd Price ituatehepicturesqueetween hese wo poles.Accordingo Gilpin,the strong mpressionf the sublime, roused y simpleideas,sweakenedn picturesqueepresentationsflandscapesy variety hroughnarrative lements, uch sruins, ottages, eople, tc.r6Smithson id not place isEarthworksn picturesque,diversifiedandscapes,ut rather n uniform ndvacantones,preferablyn 'scenesof desolation'.17urthermore,in the Land Reclamations entioned bove,he did notwork with the varietyof th e picturesque,hichprovokesattention, ut ratherwith uniformity. urkehad describedthe succession nd uniformityof parts as artificial nfinite nthe sense f the sublime: . Succession;hich s requisitethat the parts may be continuedso long, and in suchadirection,as by their frequent impulses n the sense o 77

7/29/2019 6_LandArt_Smithson.pdf

3/5

Robert SIYITHSON /s/andProject, 1970Penci l n paper 48 x 6l cm Courtesyoh nWeber Gal lery,New York'/-,.-;'

\ * '-: r a . fts .aYa- \ \. "I '.=i::i. o ; . U ? -t'.*\'tA7 ;:\ 'ta -- *i a . ' \(:,;t--l '

impress he imagination it h an idea of their progressbeyond heir actual imrts.2. Uniformity; because f the figuresof th e parts shouldbechanged, he imagination t every change indsa check,yo u are presentedat every alterationwith the terminationof one idea,and the begrnningf another;by which meansi t becomes mpossibleo cont inue hat uninterruptedprogression, hichalonecan stampon boundedobjectsthe character f inf in i ty.rsSmithson's piral etty,)eSpiralHill and drawingsof spiralEarth Art projectscan be analyzedn terms of Burke'scr i ter iaof 'uni formity 'and 'succession' .And Gilpin 's. cr i ter iaof 's impl ic i ty, 'cont inuat ion'and 'extension'explainSmithson's piralEarthworks, hereasWil l iamLock'scr i ter iaof ' repet i t ion' , formal i ty 'and 'regular i ty 'apply ominimal ist culptures y Donald udd,Sol LeWit t , RobertMorr is and Smithson 196a6Q, which consist f ser ies fregularor regularly arying,massive nits and/or intervals.Gi lprnwri tes n a let ter o Lock wr i t ten on September 9,l7B2: Now if this be just, there must be a conttnuattonnot a repetitron, of the same idea...the continuationof onelarge object, ranging uninterruptedly, & uniformty, througha vast space. Simplicity is the principal source of sublimity,as variety is of beauty.zaIn the immediately videntcomplementar i ty f the circularsegmentof the Broken Circle n Emmen, he doubleinterrupt ion f the circleappears s in a total correlat ion( 'cont inuat ion' , 'uni formity ' )f regu lar ntervals( 'succession') ,ot as djvis lonor the sakeof var iety.Smithson's euvreencompasseshe subl ime nd thepicturesque:he greatgesture n grand,simple, xpansivean d raw nature, next to th e picturescuen fantasticdrawings ro m 1970with the title EntroprcLandscapean dlslandProjecf. ln project drawings such as Floating stand;To Travel around Manhattan sland from 1970andMeandering sland (Little Fort lsland, Main-e) rom 197l,picturesque arthworks re proposed.Tl28

''r'1"'ol]-CENTER ND PERIPHERYIn two of his numerousarticles,Robert Smithsonquoiesthe followingsentenceby BlaisePascal 1673 1662):Natureis an infinite sphere whose center is everywhere andwhose circumference s nowhere.22Th e Jansenist ascal ejected Jesuit asuistry nd'metaphysicalproof for the existence f God' , ForSmithson,Pascal's earch or meaningbetween intuitionand phi losophicalogni t ion, etweenuncondit ionalai than d rationalskepticism, ecamea stimulant.Pascalwrote:Car, enfin, qu'est-ce que I'homme dans a nature? Unnant l'gard de l'rnfinr,un tout l'gard du nant, unmilieu entre rien et tout. lnfiniment loign de comprendreles extrmes; la fin des choseset leursprincipessont pourlui invinciblementcachsdans un secret impntrabte...Cemilieu qui nous est chu en partage tant toujours distantdes extrmes, qu'importe qu'un homme ait un peu plusd'intelligencedes choses?S'il en a, il lesprend un peu deplus haut, n'est-il pas oujours, infiniment loign du bout,et la dure de notre vie ne l'est-elle pas galementinfinimentde l'ternit, pour durer dix ans davantage7.z3Smrthson ecular ized ascal 'seterni ty 'and

' inf in i ty 'into'geologict ime' ,2an the faceof which he t ime of (humanand) art history become relativized:When one scans heruined sitesof prehistory one seesa heap of wreckedmaps that upsets our present art historical imits..,Thereare...no traces of an end or a beginning.)sTh e potential ly andomly nwardlyand outwardlyexpandable piralwhichcan be enteredby the viewerrepresentsa standpoint hat is alwaysdistant rom'nothingness'and ' the inf tni te ' : eginning nd end areabsent, n ly a distance etween hese s present.

From Smithson, here are two interpretations f therelat ionshipf centerand per ipheryment ioned y Pascal :a. ) Center and peripheryare opposrJes, ot h of whichrefer to the other: You then have a dialecticbetween the

7/29/2019 6_LandArt_Smithson.pdf

4/5

point and the edge:. . .a ind of Pascal ianalculus etweenthe edge and the middle or the fringe and the center.26b. ) The center is absentand sti l l or no longer negativelydefinable by the periphery: The finite present of the centerannihilitates itself in the presenceof the infinite fringes.2Tln two projects,Smithsonaddresseshe relatrons etweencenter and periphery particularly learly n the senseof a.)and b.) .ln regards to a.): In Texas Overflow, according oSmithson's rawings rom I 970,28 round elevationof I ightlimestone or bright yellow sulfuric tones)and earth wasto be constructed n a semicircular, bandonedminingpit.Into this elevation,asphaltwas to be pumped: a closedcircle of tar was to open itselfup while streamingpasttowering limestone nto the pit.ln regards o b.) : ln 1969,Smithson ad asphalt oureddown the embankmentof a garbagedump in Rome (Cavadi Selce).2ehe black mass an along he channels f th eeroded hillside.n Asphalt Rundown, as in IexasOverflow, a continuous, nformallyextensive urfacewa screated. A primary form as the central startingpoint ofth e extension,however, was lacking. n one drawing, herectangularoadingareasof fou r trucks are the source ofan entropy of 1000 tons of Aspha lt.30 he dried asphaltwas the trace of an action, which referred to an absentsource,an absentcenter. The hardened ar surfaceswereexposed o future soil erosion, o which they - incontrast o their original,hot fluid state - were no longerable to adapt. Asphalt Rundown, as long as it did not fallinto ruin, was 'i n a state of arrested disruption'.31The Earthworks Asphalt Rundown and Texas Overfloware narrativeand therefore picturesque, ecause hey canbe read as traces of actions,which proceeded rom acenter to a periphery.Smithson's ublimeEarthworksabandon his readability.With the complementarity fdirection and counter-dire ctionn the simulta neouslyprogressive nd regressive pirals nd the re verselysymmetric analogy n Broken CircleL , traces of an action-time are negated. AsphaltRundown and lexas Overflow,unlike he sublimeEarthworks,cannot be en tered, butonly viewed and are, therefore, as a result of theirpictorialnature, picturesque.

ABSENCEThe sublime epresents, ccording o lmmanuelKant(17741804),he expression f a differencebetween thesubjectof representation an idea or a perception)an drepresentation: f - saysKant - the subjectcannot beadequately epresente d n sensualmedia, he n the'objectiveinadequacy f the power of imagination' houldbe expressed Erhaben ist, was auch nur denken zuknnen ein Vermgen des Gemts beweiset, das edenMastab der Sinnebertrifft.32Jean-Frangoisyotard uses he sublime o confront the'phi losophicaldiscourse f moderni ty '31naugurated yKant and Hegelwith a question hat is not inferable romconsciousness:Wh y does somethinghappen rather thannothing?3aKant's special phere of the s ublime s transformedbyLyotard into an inquiry nto the adequacyof rationalityon

Robert SMITHSON sphalt Rundown, li969 (Roma, taly)CourtesyEstateof R.S.and JohnWeber Gallery, New Yorkthe whole: what would stil l need to be explained, f i t isquestionable hether there is indeed anything o explainatall?Smithson ermed the sphereof beingnot inferablefrom consciousnesshe 'dimensionof the absence'S sthe absolutely nfathomable,he center of beingclosed oCONSCIOUSNCSS.In the subl ime, he narrat ive the picturesque isabstained rom as far as oossible o be able to concentrateon the border between 'the 'selfand the non-self'36 thesimple, ont inuousorm as cipher n simple, xtensivelandscapeormationsconfronts he viewer-selfwithsomething oreign,which possessesoo little to st imulateth e fantasy.The form appe arsdetached rom its origin:the formal continuityof a spiraldoes not app ear conclustveto the recipient- as with Texas Overflow and AsphaltRundown - only after the reconstruction f i ts processesof realization.n walkingalong he dams, he recipients regiven ime to fill the void with their ow n projections orthey simply ake note of the beingof the work in a'walkingtime', whrch s exempt from goal directed haste.With i ts propert ies f 's impl ic i ty ' ,cont inuat ion'and'extension',the sublimeEarthwork casts he receiving-selfback onto itself.

THEPRESERVATIONERSUSHEDOMINATIONOF NATUREIn Heizer's Earthworks,which are pictorialand, at th esame ime, sculpturally reak the pictorial,naturalan dartificialmaterials re subjugatedo a technical ominationorganizedaccording o artisticpoints of view. This is truenot only for Effigy Tumuli but also for geometric workssuchas Complex One/City (197276)37of compressedearth, concreteand steel n th e Nevada Desert. Heizerprovokes he viewer to reconstructhis self-contained 29

7/29/2019 6_LandArt_Smithson.pdf

5/5

Robert SIYITHSON One of the Nrne drawings or TexasOverflow, 1970Drawing 30 x 45 cm CourtesyJohnWeber Gallery, New Yorkmonuments, hereasSmithson, i th hiscontextual ized,water permeated,spiralworks, offers passages etweennothingness nd infinity.With Smithson's piral etty orBroken Ctrcle, he viewer is 'in' the work; with Heizer, ont h e o t h e rh a n d , e s ' i n r o n t o f ' o r ' o n ' i t : b e t w e e nh erepresentative orm of the Tumuliand the possibil i t iesfwalkingon them, existsat best a distanced orrelation ncontrast o Smithson's ams,which eign he possibi l i ty fwalking pon them. The viewerwho walkson Smithson'sSpiralJetty or Broken Crrcle looks beyond the work itselfonto the surrounding nvironment The relat ionship fthe v iewer ' i n ' t he work to the landscapes , o r Smi thson ,at leastas important as the top view. With Heizer, on th eother hand, he view o{ the Tumuli rom an airplane s ofconsiderablemportance o the perceptionof its total formand descr ipt iveunct ion.Smithson'sorms are easi lyrecognizablero m the ground.Whereas, n Eff igyTumuI Heizer romanticizeshe past,Morris, in his Land Reclamationor th e 'KingsCounty ArtsCommission f Seatt le ' , emonstrateshe dark sideof thepresent.With his works, which are both ecologicallyor iented n Morr is ' sense nd formal ly onsciousn Heizer 'ssense,Smithsonappears o mediate between both ofthesestandpoints y preserving heir contrast n th esubl ime.Ecological lyr ientedLand Reclamat ionnd thepost-modern nterpretationof the sublime, adicalizedo acr i t ic ism f rat ional i ty, re complements:he unbrokendominat ion f nature n the modern radi t ionsranos nopposi t ion o the admission f the 'object iveinadequacy fthe power of imaginat ion'mbodiedwithin he subl ime.

l . R.S.Writ ings.. . ,ew York 1979, . 182: f . R.C,HOBBS, .S.: culpture,lthaca/London98 pp. 139,7082142. HOBBS, . 20 93. R, MORRIS, oteson Art as/and andReclamation,n: October, No. 12,Sprng 1980, . 9l ; HOBBS, . 217: .BEARDSLEY,arthworksnd Beyond.New York 1989, p.97ff .4. Plane rashon July20, 1973,nearhisplanned arthwork marilloRamp,StanleyMarshRanch, marrllo, exas5. HOBBS, p.774-7276. HOBBS, p.223ff .7 . MORRIS ,. 90 ;HOBBS, . 21930

B. TheDrawings f RobertMorrr. Exhibition atalogue.WilliamsColegeMuseumof Art, Wil l iamstown,assachusetts982, npagnated;. BEARDSLEY,Earthworks nd Beyond...,New York 1985, p. 90-959. lY.H. n: D.BOURDON,Working it hEarth.. . ,n: Smithsonian,o. 17,Apri l1986 , .74 .10 .D. McGlLL,M. HEIZER: ff igy umul,New York t990,pp . t6,7t,35, i t , 40(lY.H. eceived n additional 25,000 rom the nNational ndowmentor theArts))I . lYcGlLL, . 4312, n: J. BEARDSLEY,.5 .and the Dialecticalandscape,n: Arts Magazine,ay1978, . 134 I, BEARDSLEY,arthworks nd Beyond...,New York 1985, p.89ff.HarveyFite s mentonedhereas a for erunner, hosemodiflcation f anabandoned upric ulphate it from 1939 o 1976 id not, however, esult romecologicalecessity.or anotherecologicallyrientedproject,whichsought oprotect he environmentrom furtherdestruction ee:H. STACHELHAUS,osephBeuys, sseldorf987, . l8 l1 3 .R . S . , p . 1 7 , 2 814.R .S . , . I I 715.E. BURKE,n: J.T.BOULTON (ed.),A Philosophicatnquiry nto he Originofour ldeas f the Sublime nd Beautiful, ondon 195816 .P. BARBIER, i l l iam lLPlN... , xford 1963, p. 98-t2l17.W. GlLPlN,Dialogues n VariousSublects,ondon 1807,pp. 393-397;BARBIER,, 10 918 .BURKE, . 7419 .HOBBS, p . 191 - t97 ; .S . , p . 109 620. BARBIER,. 12 971 R.S.:Drawings. xhibition atalogue, he New York CulturalCenter,NewYork 1974, p. 4,37,74: R.S.19381973:eichnungen.xhibi t ionatatogue.GalerieRolfRicke,Cologne1980, npaginated;.S,:Drawings rom the Estate.Exhibi t ionatalogue. estfl ischesandesmuseum,nster 989, . 135; .ISAI, Unearthed: rawings, ollages,Writings,New York 1991, . 184Hobbsand Beardsley lacedSmithson's arthworksn the traditionof thepicturesque, hereby he latter regardshe landscapeshosen y Smithson ssublme (. BEARDSLEY,raditional spects f New LandArt, in: Art lournal,Fall1982, p, 227, 31; HOBBS, . 29).Adcock, uspit ndSayre onnectedSmithson's arthArt to the sublime C. ADCOCK,The BigBad..., n ArtsMagazine,pr i l 1983, . 104;D. KUSPIT, .S. 's runken oa t 1981),n: d. Ne wSubjectivism...,nn Arbor/London1988, p. 718,229: H.lY.SAYRE, heObjectof Performance..., hicago/London989, p. 216 with note 13,260ff.).Each ftheseapproachess onlypartiaily dequate.22 .Quotedwithout eferencen: R.5.,pp.75,67,73: also uoted n Smithson'swords n: TSAI, . 106. romSmithson'sethod f quot ing,t fol lowshat hecopied rom JorgeLuisBorges' he Fearful phere f Pascalaccordrngo EvaSchmidtn: TSAI,p. 125, romid, Labyrinths,ew York 1964, p. 189,192).nthe original t reads:C'est une sphere nfiniedont le centre estpartout, lacirconferenceullepart (B. PASCAL,n: L. BRUNSCHVICG,ed.)Pensees, arrs1904, ol . l , p, 73) n 1966, layng n Borges'i t le,Smithson rote aboutPascal'sfearfulsphere'(R.S.,. 34). Smithson'snderstandingf Pasc al as notlimited, owever, o the contentof Borges' rticle seealsohisnotesonPascal'sialecticsnd hrscomparison f Pascal nd Descartesn: TSAI,p. 103.23. PASCAL,pp . 78 , 86ff24. R.S., . 8925. R.S., p. 89ff .26 .R ,S . , . 16827 .R .S . , . 7328 . no t eal ized) OBBS, p. l98ff . ;BEARDSLEY,. 2029 .HOBBS, p . 174 - )7730. R.S.Drawings rom the Estate.Seenote 21, p. ll 53 1 .R . S . , . 8 732. L KANT, Kritikder Urteilskraft, rankfurt m Yain 1977,pp. 172, 19533. . HABERMAS, er philosophischeiskurs er Moderne,Frankfurt m flain1 9 8 5 , . 3 034. B. BLISTENE, Conversation ithJ.-F.Lyotard,in: Flash rt, No. l2l,IYarch 985, . 3335. R.S.,p. 103; f. .F . LYOTARD,Philosophiend Malerei..., erlin1986, . 3536 .R .S . , . 8437. E.C. BAKER, rtrlvorks n the Land, n:Art in America, anuary-February1976, p. 93ff . ; '1cGlLL,p. l9ff .Translation from the German by Gdrard A. Goodrow andAndreas Fri tsch, Cologne.

Robert SIYITHSON (" l93B Passaic,New Jersey, + 1973 near TecovasLake, Texas) iived and worked in New York.Thomas DREHER '1957) is an art cr i t icand l ives n Munich,