Author: Robert Smithson

Quotes

A vacant white room with lights is still a submission to the neutral. Works of art seen in such spaces seem to be going through a kind of esthetic convalescence.

A vacant white room with lights is still a submission to the neutral. Works of art seen in such spaces seem to be going through a kind of esthetic convalescence.

- Robert Smithson

Cultural confinement takes place when a curator imposes his own limits on an art exhibition, rather than asking an artist to set his limits.

Cultural confinement takes place when a curator imposes his own limits on an art exhibition, rather than asking an artist to set his limits.

- Robert Smithson

Artists themselves are not confined, but their output is.

Artists themselves are not confined, but their output is.

- Robert Smithson

Nature is never finished.

Nature is never finished.

- Robert Smithson

Art history is less explosive than the rest of history, so it sinks faster into the pulverized regions of time.

Art history is less explosive than the rest of history, so it sinks faster into the pulverized regions of time.

- Robert Smithson

A work of art when placed in a gallery loses its charge, and becomes a portable object or surface disengaged from the outside world.

A work of art when placed in a gallery loses its charge, and becomes a portable object or surface disengaged from the outside world.

- Robert Smithson

History is representational, while time is abstract; both of these artifices may be found in museums, where they span everybody's own vacancy.

History is representational, while time is abstract; both of these artifices may be found in museums, where they span everybody's own vacancy.

- Robert Smithson

Parks are idealizations of nature, but nature in fact is not a condition of the ideal.

Parks are idealizations of nature, but nature in fact is not a condition of the ideal.

- Robert Smithson

History is a facsimile of events held together by finally biographical information.

History is a facsimile of events held together by finally biographical information.

- Robert Smithson

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