Art and Time

SPIRAL JETTY FILM STILLS

1970
black and white silver gelatin prints
3 panels: 25 1/4' x 43 1/2" each
Collection: Museet For Samtiskunst, Norway

SPIRAL JETTY

Rozel Point, Great Salt Lake, Utah
April 1970
mud, precipitated salt crystals, rocks, water coil 1500' long and 15' wide
Collection: DIA Center for the Arts,
New York


I thought the work "spiral jetty" related to art and time as it is a representation of time and the passing of time. The spiral jetty film deals with the issues of time and space. Robert Smithson at this point was reformulating his ideas with his relationship to the land. These endeavors in the land enabled Smithson to explore chaos and order-how natural forces such as wind, rain, heat and cold, would effect the work over time. This work changes with the land as time changes. As Eleanor Heartney says photography makes time literally visible the film and photographs of this work makes the passing of time in this work clear to his audience.