Pdf robert smithson and ruins in reverse simon osullivan. Doug aitkens blow debris emaj issue 1 julydecember 2005 1. Camille henrots 20 grosse fatigue presents a digital nesting of taxidermy archives and popular culture to suggest a universal origin story for today. As i faintly smell the sulphur in the air, hear the crunch of my boots upon the salt crystals that have. The earths surface and the figments of the mind have a way of disintegrating into discrete regions of art. Simply put, entropy as it relates to digital information is the measurement of randomness in a given set of values data. Robert smithson entropy and the new monuments free download as pdf file. Of course, one could argue that inevitably everything loses organization. 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. Such works are the foundation and a fundamental reference point in pecoraros work. Robert smithson monumentual earthwork is located on the great salt lake in utah rozel point. Affective entropy minerva access university of melbourne.
Instead he tried to alter this course of development in his criticism, and his work ironically became both a comment on and a manifesta. Rather than collapsing in ruin after construction, these elements arise in ruin prior to construction. Art 1 modern to contemporary art takehome final exam guide the takehome final exam is due on tuesday, may 24 at 2. The italian critic germano celant mounts the first arte povera exhibition 1967c. Yet the list of smithsonk library makes clear that he was also well aware of the developing field of cybernetics and infor mation theory, and his art theory evolved accordingly. Robert smithson, entropy and the new monuments, from \unpublished writings in robert smithson.
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. Similarly, jarry, who considered a career in science and. Cultural entropy began as a side thought that appeared as a line in the conclusion of my dissertation, he explains, but it was a germ of an idea that yearned for. I, on the other hand, was more involved with the opposite. Mark linders research explores design theory and history considered in a transdisciplinary framework and is focused on modern architecture since 195. Thermodynamics the study of the transformations of energy from one form into another first law. Entropy and information theory first edition, corrected robert m. Cultural entropy began as a side thought that appeared as a line in the conclusion of my dissertation, he explains, but it was a germ of an idea that yearned for more conceptual development. On january th, 2004, the new york times reported the dia art foundations director, michael govan, as saying that planning was underway to facilitate easier access to robert smithsons spiral jetty and perhaps do restoration to bring the jetty back to how it originally looked when built in 1970.
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. Ursprung provides a sophisticated yet accessible analysis, placing the two artists firmly in the art world of the 1960s as well as in the art historical discourse of the. The technical explanation of entropy in computing terms is described here. A users guide to entropy yvealain bois and rosalind krauss entropy. Robert smithsons work was selected because his writing on entropy in the 1970s provides a natural starting point for understanding how entropy figures into the temporal and. Robert smithson 19381973 was an american sculptor and writer associated with the land art movement. 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. This entropy of technique leaves one with an empty limit, or no limit at all. Made of black basalt rocks and earth gathered from the site, spiral jetty is a 15footwide coil. Mark linder syracuse architecture syracuse university. Where many people use the simple descriptor of a wave washing away footprints or their name scrawled in the sand with a big toe, smithson offers. Indebted as his work is to lewis carroll, edgar allan poe. Analogue to robert smithson, one could call it ruin in reverse. In the holocene is made possible by an emily hall tremaine exhibition award.
The papers of sculptor, writer, and earthworks artist robert smithson and his wife, sculptor, filmmaker, and earthworks artist nancy holt measure 15. 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. We are also pleased to present several important series of video and film works. Corroded infrastructure 2010robert smithsons writings on entropy, 196667. Entropy michael fowler 71008 introduction the word entropy is sometimes used in everyday life as a synonym for chaos, for example. 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. Smithson robert 1966 1996 entropy and the new monuments. All underlinings and annotations in smithsons books are to be found in the. Robert slifkin on dennis oppenheims marionette theatre 6 subsequently refilled in central park, as a crucial and notably overt instance in. Edited by nancy holt, with an introduction by philip leider, designed by sol lewitt. Entropy andthe new monuments 1966 on nsmg to my feet. Wiki for collaborative studies of arts, media and humanities. Robert smithson, a tour of the monuments of passaic.
A sandbox, consisting of equal and distinct halves of white and black sand, when stirred counterclockwise into gray sand, cannot be returned to its original blackandwhite state by simply stirring the sand in the opposite direction. Smithson the entropy of a modem art that has become overrefined, insular, and incapable of being understood except by the initiated. A friend and close observer of robert smithson, oppenheim was certainly aware of the critique of established humanist values. Douglas kahn is professor at the national institute for experimental arts at the university of new south wales in sydney, australia.
To organize this mess of corrosion into patterns, grids, and subdivisions is an esthetic process that has scarcely been touched. Gray information systems laboratory electrical engineering department stanford university. If you are unfamiliar about what exactly means the. May, 20 however in the real world, files that contain random data have no utility in a file system, therefore it is highly probable that files with high entropy are actually encrypted or compressed. Nicola pecoraro conceived a tour of the areas described by smithson, which in the most part are.
File entropy explained computer forensics, malware analysis. A tour of the monuments of the prosaic after robert smithson in which the author travels from california to iowa, stopping at places of consequence along the way. A bleached and fractured world surrounds the artist. Robert smithsons earthwork, spiral jetty 1970, an icon of the land art movement of the 1960s and 1970s, is located on the northern shores of utahs great salt lake. Smithsons performance didnt seek to protect new york from the wrath of nature but rather nature from urban encroachment. To the uninitiated his art appears at worst to be about. And it is a theory worthy of interest or, should i say, a fact. Time crystals is the first exhibition in australia dedicated to the work of american artist robert smithson 193873. Allan kaprow, robert smithson, and the limits to art by. In 1970, assisted by a crew operating dump trucks, a tractor, and a front loader. Like energy, information can reside in one place or another, it can be transmitted through space, and it can be stored for later use. Robert smithsons 1970 spiral jetty is a filmic meditation on geological time and entropy. Over the years, the mythic creature has thwarted several sojourners at. Entropy is technically defined here and is the second law of thermodynamics.
Although published posthumously, smithson and sky completed the editing of the text together and smithson. Robert smithson, entropy and the new monuments1966. 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. New works 20052006 new works 20052006 features a remarkable range of video, film, and new media. 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. Robert smithsons interest in crystallography more and entropy are reflected in both his foursided vortex 1965 and partially buried woodshed 1970. Best known for his radical land art of the 1960s and early 1970s, smithson. Robert smithson spiral jetty, 1970 one of the most remarkable examples of land art is robert smithsons spiral jetty, located at rozel point peninsula on the northeastern shore of great salt. With the assistance of a team operating dump trucks, a front loader, and. This interview took place about two months before smithsons death. To explain entropy he asks his reader to imagine a sandbox filled. Although published posthumously, smithson and sky completed the editing of the text together and smithson provided all the illustrations. Time crystals curated by dr amelia barikin and professor chris mcauliffe robert smithson. Smithson built a masterpiece from local materials, one that spirals counterclockwise into the lake and appears or is submerged with fluctuations in the.
At the interstices of clockwork of the assorted ways in which we might describe the natural process of entropy, robert smithson offers both a scientific but at the same time highly poetic meditation. Robert smithson, the collected writings edited, with an. Sculpture has been called art an updating of the macho that among the abstract one that is not easily conformable to dards of beauty, radiance. Publishing a tour of the monuments of passaic, new jersey, robert smithson marks entropy as a generative concept of artistic practice in the late sixties 1967b. Apr 12, 20 that is, the phrase file entropy is used to measure the amount of data which is present in a selected file. Earth projects like his artistic works, smithsons writings of the later 1960s combine eclecticism, imaginat iveness and irony in their critical address to the categories and protocols of a more standard modernist aesthetics. Artist robert smithson, who created the 1970 earthwork sculpture spiral jetty in salt lake city, utah, u. A tour of the monuments of the prosaic after robert. For example, if you have some files and desire to calculate the entropy value for that, then it will be very simple by accessing the methods of file entropy and its calculation process. Robert smithson entropy and the new monuments entropy. In the 60s, robert smithson begins to talk about entropy in relation to the dissolution of the inherent energy in all kind of elements, including landscape. 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. Energies and earth magnitude in the arts and coeditor of wireless imagination.
Robert smithsons treatises on entropy, abstraction, and mannerism itself. I, on the other hand, was more involved with the opposite, the accretion of dust into planets of evolution and the fact that life is natures riposte to entropy by increasing complexity. These films and videos speak to the ways that our understanding of the natural world is. Robert smithson spiral jetty, 1970 one of the most remarkable examples of land art is robert smithsons spiral jetty, located at rozel point peninsula on the northeastern shore of great salt lake. What the nominalists call the grit in the machine, says. Various agents, both fictional and real, somehow trade places with each other one cannot avoid muddy thinking when it comes to earth projects, or what i will call abstract geology. An homage to frederick law olmsted, designer of central park, floating island conceptually displaces a piece of its terrain. Premio selezione italian cultural institute new york. Robert slifkin on dennis oppenheims marionette theatre 9 body works, exploring new modes of production such as video, photoconceptualism, and performance. He discovers thus a chaotic and residual landscape, the other landscape, which acquires esthetic value. A history of sound in the arts mit press and earth sound earth signal.
An analysis of the role of entropy in 1960s american abstract art. Glue pour, 1970 adam lauder reappraises robert smithsons glue pour project, noting its resonance with wider narratives of vancouver art and conceptual arts history. 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. Although he never, himself, pushed his own concerns with entropy into the actual making of casts, robert smithson had always considered casting as a way of theorizing entropy, since he had written about the earths crust as itself a giant cast, the testimony to wave after wave of cataclysmic forces compressing and congealing life and all the. Robert smithson spiral jetty, 1970 dia art foundation. As everything is geared in the end toward a state of equilibrium, there is a justifiable center without the possibility of. At the interstices of clockwork university of south. Smithson built a masterpiece from local materials, one that spirals counterclockwise into the lake and appears or is submerged with fluctuations in the lakes locally red. Craig owens the strata of the earth is a jumbled museum. Ruins in reverse that robert smithsons simon osullivan is a professor. His largescale sculptures, called earthworks, engaged directly with nature and were created by moving and constructing with vast amounts of soil and rocks.
Robert smithsons spiral jetty, 1970, and nancy holts sun it is hard to imagine a young artist now choosing to pursue the impossible dream of land art. A tour of the monuments of the prosaic after robert smithson. Robert smithson, entropy and the new monuments, a tour of the monuments of the. Zoe, a black student at an ivy league university, is called into her white professors office to discuss her thesis about slaverys effect on the american. All differentiated technology becomes meaningless to the artist who knows this state. Ultimately, middlebrow mannerism provided artists and critics with the tools to wage a proxy struggle against high modernism while prompting them to scrutinize their own roles and behaviours within the.
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