Section 12: Strata A Geographic Fiction

Section 12: Strata A Geographic Fiction

Land art; Earthworks; Geology; Photography; Entropy; Site and non-site; Conceptual art; Environmental art; Mineralogy; Geological strata; Time; Landscape theory; Industrial ruins; Documentation; Process art

A text work exploring the intersection of geology, photography, and artistic fiction, created by the pioneering land artist best known for Spiral Jetty. The piece unfolds as a large four-panel folded poster that combines theoretical writing with photographic and textual elements to examine relationships between geological formations, photographic representation, and conceptual frameworks. Smithson developed theories distinguishing between "site" (outdoor location-specific works) and "non-site" (gallery-displayable works consisting of photographs and materials from remote locations), and this work engages these ideas through its format and content. The title references both geological stratification, the layering of rock and sediment over time, and the conceptual layering of representation through photography. Smithson's theoretical interests centered on entropy, the thermodynamic principle describing systems' tendency to lose energy and order over time, which he saw manifested in industrial decay, geological processes, and the relationship between landscape and documentation. His writings frequently recovered eighteenth and nineteenth-century concepts of landscape architecture and the picturesque while engaging dialectical methods to examine how art relates to environment, temporality, and transformation. This work represents one of Smithson's rarest publications and exemplifies his practice as both artist and theorist.

Smithson, Robert, 1938-1973

Roaring Fork Pres (New York, N.Y.)

Fall-Winter 1970-1971

Graham, Dan, 1942-2022 (Editor); Maciunas, George, 1931-1978 (Designer); Johnson, Phyllis, 1926-2001 (Publisher)

Is part of Aspen Magazine No. 8 (Fall-Winter 1970-1971); Created contemporaneously with Spiral Jetty (April 1970); Related to Smithson's non-site works (begun 1968); Connected to Smithson's theoretical essays including "The Spiral Jetty" (1972), "Frederick Law Olmsted and the Dialectical Landscape" (1973); Part of land art movement alongside Michael Heizer, Walter de Maria, Nancy Holt; Smithson died July 20, 1973 in plane crash while surveying site for Amarillo Ramp; Published writings in Arts Magazine and Artforum

Large four-panel folded poster; Text with photographic elements; Mixed media document

English

Artist's text; Theoretical writing; Geophotographic work; Conceptual art documentation; Four-panel folded poster; Artist's publication

Temporal: 1965-1971 Spatial: New York, N.Y. Aspen, CO.