"Spiral Jetty 2013"
Robert Smithson Ongoing Project
In 2010 when a professor from Weber State University, in Ogden Utah, mentioned the possibility of a field trip to Spiral Jetty an unanimous and cheerful response from my classmates fueled the discussion about unconventional artworks. It was then that I was introduced and became curious about what I ended up calling "museumless artwork." The thought of an artwork being displayed in any other place besides the confinement of four walls and materialized in unusual ways was never contemplated in any of my previous experiences with art nor was the idea of art as a physical "place." The artwork became an inspiring set where artist and viewers could find closeness to God, nature and it became a sacred place where the spiritual and self search is reachable and by no means attached to a museum, gallery or any place in which it's displayed.
Robert Smithson's earthwork Spiral Jetty inspired me to think outside the box (literally!) and to explore the endless possibilities offered as a mix media artist. The field trip in 2010 did not happen but three years later my husband, six of my children and I adventured to the Great Salt Lake to find Robert Smithson's famous "ongoing project." This is the account of our trip and the research done to enlighten the experience and what led to the conclusion that even after death his work is unending.
July in the desert climate of Utah is an experience on its own, the heat of the sun is so strong that if you are not used to it, you would probably feel like a dry prune in a fire pit. The lack of humidity can be felt and seen everywhere in the landscape,during the day wild animals are rarely visible, as for us humans,we tend to hide indoors close by the air-conditioner. Saturday morning, on a day like most of the days in July with temperatures on the upper nineties, we left home to travel 110 miles to the artist's 1970s masterpiece.
Smithsonian mayor project actually began in California in 1968 with his work on the Mono Lake Site-Nonsite. His interest later shifted to the salars in all stages of desiccation primarily in the stage in which micro bacteria give the water surface a red color. Mono Lake in California lacked that particular reddish color which he was interested in then and decided to investigate the Great Salt Lake in Utah instead. (Smithson). The artist had a genuine curiosity for crystalline structures, geology in general, and he was strongly attracted to landscapes that suggested prehistory. (Pettena). His investigations and site explorations led to the choice of the Salt Lake desert as the ideal location for his new project. The isolation and refusal of the lake to let man inhabit its proximity, because of the high concentration of salt and the lack of fresh water, made the Great Salt Lake an appealing spot for his new earthwork in view of the fact that it couldn't be farther from the comfort and artificiality of a museum .
Reading about these conditions and not knowing with exactitude the conditions of the dirt roads we packed plenty of water bottles and snacks, just in case, and after two and a half hours of "are we there yet?" we arrived at to what my husband called the "spiral made by aliens." Of course I kept quiet. It was nice to travel with little passengers eager to get to the destination and not to hear much of the characteristic complains of a long trip. Excited about the proximity of something supernatural the children jumped out of the car looking for the alien work. We could see from the distance a vague musical note and then there it was like a stubborn curl of the dessert reaching out to the salt waters. Made of mud, precipitated salt, crystals, basalt rocks, and water, the coil reaches 1500' long and 15' wide. (S. o. Smithson)
Before the magnificente view, a trip of fifteen and a half miles of sagebrush and dirt road separated the spiral from the closest sign of civilization: Golden Spike National Monument. While driving by the golden point, which marks the meeting of the east and west railroad tracks, I thought came to my mind: Is there any connection between this two places? I will probably never know since Smithson only mentioned the name of the monument, in his essay, and did not go farther in any explanation of why Spiral Jetty was located near the railroad monument.
As we walked toward the spiral, beautiful salt crystal formations covered the dark rocks and the water near the spiral became pink and turquoise. We were in a planet within our planet; my children found the alien work and I, for a moment believed it as well. The combination of the sun reflection in the salt crystals and the consequently illuminated spiral were not an ordinary site. The spiral took us in a automatic and mysterious journey to the center of the structure and we were not alone, a group of about twelve people were walking in different stages of the spiral but they were all very quiet I could hear only my barefooted five year old complaining about the salt hurting her foot. As we got nearer the center we were exited and then disappointment sunk in since we could not move any farther; a young woman with a Brazilian shirt sat in the center as in complete meditation. We waited and waited but gave up when the heat of the sun became unbearable for the little ones. I felt our pilgrimage ended without the climax of finishing our journey, we felt like we got to the door steps of the church and the door was closed.
It was indeed a religious experience; Edward A. Shankenfrom the University of Washington in his essay: Broken Circle &/Spiral Hill?: Smithson's spirals, pataphysics, syzygy and survival reinforced those views :
"Given the pilgrimage required in order to experience any of Smithson's earthworks, the symbolic meaning of spirals as signifying a spiritual journey is particularly poignant. Smithson's performance in the film Spiral Jetty (1970, 32 minutes, colour) at the end of which the artist runs the length of the spiral counterclockwise from the shore to its centre core, has been described as a 'reiteration of innumerable initiation rites' (Lippard) (Shanken)
Even thought we did not make it to the center of the spiral or I could say "finished our pilgrimage" it felt like visiting a shrine or an altar where God, nature, aliens or whatever the visitor had in mind while visiting the place were close by. The supernatural appearance of the crystals clinging to the black rocks, the pink color of the water near the spiral and the magical reflection of the sky in the water were elements of this spiritual place like flowers and candles were in the altars that I grew up with. The discovery that I felt most compelled to share in this our little unfinished pilgrimage is that if we come back later and get finally to the magical center, Smithson's spiral will not be the same. The crystals that covered the basalt rocks will be different the water levels of the Great Salt Lake could reveal more or cover the structure making the shape and appearance of Smithson's masterpiece a ever change artwork. Despite the fact that Robert Smithson is no longer present, is apparent that nature took over as the artist and year after year the viewer is surprised with its magnificence alteration of the Spiral Jetty.
Pettena, Gianni. "Conversation in Salt Lake City." Flam, Jack.Robert Smithson: The Collected Writtings. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996. 297.
Shanken, Edward A. "Broken Circle &/ Spiral hill?: Smithson's spirals, pataphysics, syzygy and survival." Technoetic Arts: A Journal of Speculative Research (2013): 6. 25 August 2013. <http://www.ebscohost.com>.
Smithson, Robert. "The Spiral Jetty." Flam, Jack. Robert Smithson: The Collected Writtings. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996. 143.
Smithson, State of Robert. Robert Smithson. n.d. 24 August 2013. <http://www.robertsmithson.com>.
Images by Sonia Pentz
