Collected Writings
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THE DOCUMENTS O F TWENTIETH CENTURY ART General Editor, Jack Flam Founding Editor, Robert Motherwell Other titl es in the series available from University of California Press: Flight Out of Tillie: A Dada Diary by Hugo Ball John Elderfield Art as Art: The Selected Writings of Ad Reinhardt Barbara Rose Memo irs of a Dada Dnnnmer by Richard Huelsenbeck Hans J. Kl ein sc hmidt German Expressionism: Dowments jro111 the End of th e Wilhelmine Empire to th e Rise of National Socialis111 Rose-Carol Washton Long Matisse on Art, Revised Edition Jack Flam Pop Art: A Critical History Steven Henry Madoff Co llected Writings of Robert Mothen/le/1 Stephanie Terenzio Conversations with Cezanne Michael Doran ROBERT SMITHSON: THE COLLECTED WRITINGS EDITED BY JACK FLAM UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS Berkeley Los Angeles Londo n University of Cali fornia Press Berkeley and Los Angeles, California University of California Press, Ltd. London, England © 1996 by the Estate of Robert Smithson Introduction © 1996 by Jack Flam Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Smithson, Robert. Robert Smithson, the collected writings I edited, with an Introduction by Jack Flam. p. em.- (The documents of twentieth century art) Originally published: The writings of Robert Smithson. New York: New York University Press, 1979. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-520-20385-2 (pbk.: alk. paper) r. Art. I. Title. II. Series. N7445.2.S62A3 5 1996 700-dc20 95-34773 C IP Printed in the United States of Am erica o8 07 o6 9 8 7 6 T he paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of ANSII NISO Z39·48-1992 (R 1997) (Per111anmce of Paper) . €) The COlier a11d fromispiece photographs are by Gia rifrarlro Gorgoni. CONTENTS PREFACE ix INTRODUCTION: READING ROBERT SMITHSON xi ii BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE xxvi PUBLISHED WRITINGS QUICK MILLIONS ( 1965) DONALD JUDD ( 1965) 4 THE CRYSTAL LAND ( 1966) 7 ENTROPY AND THE NEW MONUMENTS ( 1966) 10 THE X FACTOR IN ART ( 1966) 24 THE DOMAIN OF THE GREAT BEAR ( 1966) 26 QUASI-INFINITIES AND THE WANING OF SPACE ( 1966) 34 THE CRYOSPHERE ( 1966) 38 INTERPOLATION OF THE ENANTIOMORPHIC CHAMBERS ( 1966) 39 SOME VOID THOUGHTS ON MUSEUMS ( 1967) 41 WHAT IS A MUSEUM? A DIALOGUE BETWEEN 43 ALLAN KAPROW AND ROBERT SMITHSON (1967) TOWARDS THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN AIR TERMINAL SITE ( 1967) 52 LANGUAGE TO BE LOOKED AT AND/OR THINGS TO BE READ ( 1967) 61 ULTRAMODERNE ( 1967) 62 LETTER TO THE EDITOR ( 1967) 66 A TOUR OF THE MONUMENTS OF PASSAIC, NEW JERSEY ( 1967) 68 STRATA A GEOPHOTOGRAPHIC FICTION ( 1970) 75 A MUSEUM OF LANGUAGE IN THE VICINITY OF ART ( 1968) 78 A THING IS A HOLE IN A THING IT IS NOT ( 1968) 95 v THE ESTABLISHMENT ( /968) 97 A SEDIMENTATION OF THE MIND: EARTH PROJECTS ( 1968) 100 MINUS TWELVE ( /968) 114 AERIAL ART ( 1969) 1/6 INCIDENTS OF MIRROR-TRAVEL IN THE YUCATAN ( 1969) 1/9 THE ARTIST AND POLITICS: A SYMPOSIUM ( 1970) 134 GYROSTASIS ( 1970) 136 A CINEMATIC ATOP/A ( /971) 138 THE SPIRAL JETTY ( /972) 143 CULTURAL CONFINEMENT (/972) /54 FREDERICK LAW OLMSTED AND THE DIALECTICAL LANDSCAPE ( /973) /57 INTERVIEWS SMITHSON'S NON-SITE SIGHTS I ANTHONY ROBBIN ( 1969) 175 EARTH I THOMAS W. LEAVITT ( /969) 177 FRAGMENTS OF A CONVERSATION I WILLIAM C. LIPKE ( /969) 188 FRAGMENTS OF AN INTERVIEW WITH PATSY NORVELL ( /969) 192 FOUR CONVERSATIONS BETWEEN DENNIS WHEELER AND ROBERT SMITHSON I EDITED BY EVA SCHMIDT ( 1969- /970) /96 INTERVIEW WITH ROBERT SMITHSON I PAUL TONER ( 1970) 234 DISCUSSIONS WITH HEIZER. OPPENHEIM, SMITHSON I LIZA BEAR AND WILLOUGHBY SHARP ( /970) 242 . THE EARTH , SUBJECT TO CATACLYSMS, IS A CRUEL MASTER" I GREGOIRE MULLER (1971) 253 CONVERSATION WITH ROBERT SMITHSON I BRUCE KURTZ ( 1972) 262 INTERVIEW WITH ROBERT SMITHSON FOR THE ARCHIVES OF AMERICAN ART I SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION I PAUL CUMMINGS ( /972) 270 CONVERSATION IN SALT LAKE CITY I GIANNI PETTENA ( 1972) 297 ENTROPY MADE VISIBLE I ALISON SKY ( 1973) 301 ROBERT SMITHSON ON DUCHAMP I MOIRA ROTH ( 1973) 310 vi UNPUBLISHED WRITINGS POEMS (1959- 1961) FROM THE TEMPTATIONS 315 FROM THE WALLS OF DIS 316 FROM THE CITY 317 TO THE EYE OF BLOOD 318 THE LAMENTATIONS OF THE PAROXYSMAL ARTIST 319 PROSE THE ICONOGRAPHY OF DESOLATION (c. 1962) 320 THE ELIMINATOR ( 1964) 327 THE HUM (c. 196S) 328 A SHORT DESCRIPTION OF TWO MIRRORED CRYSTAL STRUCTURES ( 1965) 328 RESPONSE TO A QUESTIONNAIRE FROM IRVING SANDLER ( 1966) 329 COLOSSAL NULLIFICATIONS (PART I) (c . 1966) 331 ATLANTIC CITY (H-13) ( 1966) 332 THE SHAPE OF THE FUTURE AND MEMORY (1966) 332 PREDICTABLE MODEL FOR UNPREDICTABLE PROJECT (c. 1966) 333 PROPOSAL FOR THE DETECTION OF 334 APPROXIMATE PERIOD QUANTITY (c . 1966) AN ESTHETICS OF DISAPPOINTMENT (c . 1966) 334 SOL LEW ITT ( 1966- 67) 335 A REFUTATION OF HISTORICAL HUMANISM ( 1966- 67) 336 THE PATHETIC FALLACY IN ESTHETICS ( 1966-67) 337 ABSTRACT MANNERISM ( 1966- 67) 339 THE ARTIST AS SITE-SEER ; OR, A DINTORPHIC ESSAY ( 1966- 67) 340 WHAT REALLY SPO ILS MICHELANGELO'S SCULPTURE ( 1966- 67) 346 FROM IVAN THE TERRIBLE TO ROGER CORMAN OR PARADOXES 349 OF CONDUCT IN MANNERISM AS REFLECTED IN THE CINEMA ( 1967) vii PROPOSAL FOR EARTHWORKS AND LANDMARKS TO BE 354 BUILT ON THE FRINGES OF THE FORTWORTH-DALLAS REGIONAL AIR TERMINAL SITE ( 1966- 67) UNTITLED {AIR TERMINAL - WINDOWS) ( 1967) 355 SEE THE MONUMENTS OF PASSAIC NEW JERSEY ( 1967) 356 THE MONUMENT: OUTLINE FOR A FILM ( 1967) 357 POINTLESSVANISHING POINTS (1967) 358 A SMALL TEST FOR JO BAER ( 1968) 360 OUTLINE FOR YALE SYMPOSIUM : 360 AGAINST ABSOLUTE CATEGORIES ( 1968) SITES AND SETTINGS ( 1968) 362 UNTITLED (SITE DATA) ( 1968) 362 A PROVISIONAL THEORY OF NON-SITES ( 1968) 364 NON-SITE NUMBER 2 ( 1968) 365 HIDDEN TRAILS IN ART ( 1969) 366 CAN MAN SURVIVE? ( 1969) 367 LETTER TO GYORGY KEPES ( 1969) 369 LOOK (1970) 370 ART AND DIALECTICS ( 1971) 370 ART THROUGH THE CAMERA'S EYE (c . 1971) 371 UNTITLED (1971) 376 LETTER TO JOHN DIXON ( 1972) 377 PRODUCTION FOR PRODUCTION'S SAKE ( 1972) 378 UNTITLED (1972) 379 PROPOSAL ( 1972) 379 GLOSSARY OF NAMES 381 BIBLIOGRAPHY 384 INDEX 387 viii PREFACE This book is a revised and expanded edition of The Writings of Robert Smithson, edited by Nancy Holt and published by New York University Press in 1979. Like the first edition, this book is organized into three sections, consisting of Publishe9 Writings, Interviews, and Unpublished Writings. Within each sec tion, the texts are arranged chronologically.* To the Published Writings have been added four texts that have subsequently come to light; the Interviews now include three more items; and over thirty texts have been added to the section of Unpublished Writings. (Of these new unpublished texts, eight have previously appeared in Eugenie Tsai's Robert Smithson Unearthed: Drawings, Col lages, Writings, published by Columbia University Press in 1991. We place them in the unpublished category because they were not published until well after Smithson's death. The interviews by Dennis Wheeler were also first published in the Tsai book.) The unpublished writings are comprised of texts that for one reason or an other Smithson himself decided not to publish but which are self-contained and interesting examples of his thought. In a sense they are "artifacts," which reveal a number of concerns that underlay his published writings, sometimes recontextualized or articulated in rather different ways. Given Smithson's his torical importance and enormous presence for contemporary artists and theo rists, it was decided to publish them even though Smithson himself had not chosen to do so. (The original manuscripts for these, along with more frag mentary writings, which we have decided not to publish here, are on deposit at the Archives of American Art in Washington, D.C.; microfilms are available at the regional research centers of the Archives.) We have also decided not to publish here texts that are part of completed works of art, such as the Non Sites or the slide/audiotape work Hotel Palenque, since they were felt to be in separable from the works to which they belong. We have included a small selection of Smithson's early poems among the unpublished writings, most in manuscript form. Though they are derivative and strongly echo the rhetoric of T. S. Eliot's "Ash Wednesday," they nonetheless show the intensity of Smithson's early engagement with religious imagery as well as with poetry, and they relate directly to some of his early paintings, such as the two versions of Walls of Dis (1959) and Th e Eye of Blood (1960). Although we do not publish Smithson's general correspondence, we do in clude a few letters that are directly relevant to his writings. *Because of an initial error in documentation discovered too late to allow for a change, Strata : A Geophotogmphic Fictiol! is out of sequence. ix We also include, with some corrections, the Biographical Note from the first edition, which was a collaborative effort by Nancy Holt, Philip Leider, and Sol Le Witt, and which conveys the personal warmth and sense of loss felt by those close to Smithson in the years inm1ediately following his untimely death. A detailed chronology, which includes exhibitions, may be found in Robert Hobbs's Robert Smithso11: Sculpture (Ithaca and London: Cornell Uni versity Press, 198 r). The general layout of this edition is meant to reflect the spirit of Sol Le Witt's design for the first edition. As in the first edition, those articles that were orig inally laid out by Robert Smithson have either been reproduced exactly as they first appeared or have been followed as closely as the present format allows. These include "The X Factor in Art," "The Domain of the Great Bear;' "Quasi-Infinities and the Waning of Space," "Ultramoderne," and "Strata: A Geophotographic Fiction." In the presentation of Smithson's texts, we have decided to intrude as little as possible with editorial material, so as to let them speak for themselves.