by Spiral Jetty revisited
Spiral Jetty began to submerge earlier this spring, as represented in this May 18, 2005, photo. Image: Mark Milligan at Geotimes.
Robert Smithson’s Spiral Jetty was a subject of a post I wrote in August of last year. Today Modern Art Note’s Tyler Green says his mind is full of earth art after revisiting the Smithson exhibit at the Whitney. This has inspired him to post what he wrote last fall about his visit to the Jetty and how awe-inspiring that was. It’s eloquent and it will make you want to see it as it much as it’s made me, again, so do go and read it.
But, Geotimes reports:
For the last 36 years, weather cycles have dictated when Smithson’s sculpture would make an appearance. “The jetty has a cyclical presence: being submerged under water, re-emerging encrusted in salt, weathering back to rock and then being submerged again,” says Michael Govan, director and president of the Dia Art Foundation. “Its recurring/disappearing act beneath the Salt Lake only adds to its allure.” And now, following a 1999 drought that allowed the jetty to reappear three years ago, the spiral may be going back into hiding.
Further Links:
Official Robert Smithson site
More photos, video, links
June 28, 2005 in Art Exhibitions, Modern Rock Art by Marja-Leena
Hi Marja-Leena – Did you see that Charles T. Downey at ionarts wrote a post on Cahokia today (Wednesday, June 29)? Will spiral Jetty last as long? What will people be saying about it, in the far future, if it does survive?
-Anna
Hi Anna! Yes, I saw that post and even commented there – it’s very interesting! I think Spiral Jetty will last if it’s not interfered with by humans and their machines, or some catastrophes. With the fluctuating water levels of course it may not always be visible! It’s interesting to think what future generations would make of it, particularly if the documentation about it should not survive…just as we puzzle over the works of early man, hmm?
Yes, I love this art too.
There is something just so touching about this work. Like a very sensitive stroke between nature and man. Beautiful, no matter how long it is present!
Funny how things spring back into your consciousness as as if you had really visited them – I remember reading a lot about the jetty when your original article was published. Viewing this picture was like the jolt of seeing a familiar place again. Oh, that it weren’t so far away.