an online encounter between two earthworks by Robert Smithson
On September 10, 2024, Kunstmuseum M. in the Netherlands and partners in the United States will present From Dawn till Dusk: an online encounter between two earthworks by Robert Smithson. A unique online event featuring simultaneous live views of the only two remaining land art works by American artist Robert Smithson (1938-1973): the iconic Spiral Jetty (1970) in Utah, United States, and Broken Circle/Spiral Hill (1971) in Emmen, Netherlands.
Broadcasting live from first light at Spiral Jetty, located at the Great Salt Lake in the state of Utah, and concluding with last light at Broken Circle/Spiral Hill located in Emmen in Netherlands, this special digital event is a part of Land Art Lives, an on-going research project exploring the relevance of Land Art for our current times. Presented in collaboration with Land Art Contemporary (Netherlands), Land Arts of the American West (Texas Tech University) and Holt/Smithson Foundation (New Mexico), From Dawn till Dusk: an online encounter between two earthworks by Robert Smithson will be available as a livestream on September 10, 2024, from 2:00 pm – 9:00 pm (Central European Time) // 6:00 am – 1:00 pm (Mountain Time) through landartlives.nl/smithson.
About the two earthworks
In 1970 the artist Robert Smithson (1938-1973) created Spiral Jetty on the northeastern shore of Utah’s Great Salt Lake. Made from over six thousand tons of black basalt rocks and earth collected from the site, Spiral Jetty stretches 1,500 feet long and 15 feet wide in a counterclockwise spiral. The following year Smithson was invited to create an earthwork in the Netherlands for the recurring outdoor exhibition Sonsbeek Buiten de Perken by the curator Wim Beeren. Beside a working sand quarry in the province of Drenthe and cut into the side of a terminal moraine, Smithson created Broken Circle/Spiral Hill—his only extant earthwork outside of the United States.
On September 10, a dialog will take place between the two sites via a simultaneous livestream broadcast that will begin with first light at Spiral Jetty in Utah and extend to last light at Broken Circle/Spiral Hill in the Netherlands.
Seven-hour program
The seven-hour program of the livestream will be accompanied by an evolving program, highlighting a myriad of voices and viewpoints. Students from the Land Arts of the American West program will be on site with Spiral Jetty. Smithson’s writings relating to the two earthworks will be read aloud and later these voices will be joined by musician Lee Ranaldo’s diary readings of trying to find Broken Circle/Spiral Hill while on tour with Sonic Youth in the Netherlands in the 1980s. British artist Tacita Dean will join the conversation from Emmen to share her impressions upon her first visit to Smithson’s Broken Circle/Spiral Hill and Spiral Jetty. At 11:30 am Mountain Time (7:30pm Central European Time), Tacita Dean and Chris Taylor, Director of Land Arts of the American West, will be in conversation with Lisa Le Feuvre, Executive Director of Holt/Smithson Foundation, to discuss questions surrounding the relevance of land art today.
Site/nonsite
Artist Robert Smithson was fascinated by the power of photography, film, and language to shape experience. Photographs and footage of both Spiral Jetty and Broken Circle/Spiral Hill have been the primary method for most people to experience these artworks, which can be difficult to access and are located away from urban centers. Through his writings and artworks Smithson investigated this relationship between the physical site in the landscape and the mediated presentation of the work in the exhibition space. He referred to this dialogue between the site (an elsewhere) and the nonsite (the here) as the site/nonsite dialectic. Smithson’s theory of nonsites radically challenges the boundaries of sculpture to include all the theoretical spaces between artwork and its presentation. From Dawn till Dusk creates a digital space for an unprecedented encounter directly between these two earthworks, opening an opportunity to discuss how media shapes our understanding of sculpture and landscape across time.
Friday Film Screenings
In celebration of From Dawn till Dusk, Holt/Smithson Foundation will host two special Friday Film screenings that provide a window into the concepts and processes guiding Smithson’s creation of these earthworks. We will begin on Friday September 6 with Robert Smithson’s Spiral Jetty (1970). Smithson described the thirty-five-minute film as “a set of disconnections, a bramble of stabilized fragments taken from things obscure and fluid, ingredients trapped in a succession of frames, a stream of viscosities both still and moving.” The original 16mm film of Spiral Jetty was recently re-digitized by The Museum of Modern Art, New York in partnership with Holt/Smithson Foundation; this will be the first digital screening of this beautiful new 2024 scan. We will continue the following Friday with Nancy Holt’s film Breaking Ground: Broken Circle/Spiral Hill (1971/2011), which combines 16mm footage Holt shot with Smithson during the construction of the earthwork with material gathered for the 40th anniversary of the earthwork in 2011 to create a portrait of Broken Circle/Spiral Hill and its unique surroundings.
Spiral Jetty will be available to stream online for 24 hours starting at 12pm Mountain Time (8:00pm Central European Time) on Friday September 6. Breaking Ground will be available to stream online for 24 hours starting at 12pm Mountain Time (8:00pm Central European Time) on Friday September 13. The Friday Films will be made available through Holt/Smithson Foundation’s Vimeo—follow Holt/Smithson Foundation’s website and social media for links to the films.
About Land Art Lives
This unique live connection is part of the pre-program of Land Art Lives, an international conference on the future of land art scheduled for October 3, 2024 in the Netherlands. Why is land art particularly relevant today? What are its new manifestations? How do we deal with these often impermanent works of art? And how does land art shed light on the urgent ecological and social issues of today? Through the Land Art Lives program, Kunstmuseum M., Land Art Flevoland and partners jointly investigate these questions at the international conference. Prior to the conference, there will be in-depth activities where creators, owners, and other experts will engage in discussions about the future of land art in Flevoland, the Netherlands, and abroad. More information on the conference program via landartlives.nl/.