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Spiral JettySpiral Jetty © The Artist/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY/Courtesy James Cohan Gallery, New York & Shanghai

Spiral Jetty

Great Salt Lake, Utah, U.S. Robert Smithson. 1970 C.E. Earthwork: mud, precipitated salt crystals, rocks, and water coil.

Curator Note

"The most famous Earthwork (Land Art). Smithson bulldozed 6,000 tons of black basalt and earth into a giant spiral in the red waters of the Great Salt Lake. The work is subject to entropy—it disappears when water rises and re-emerges white with salt when it recedes. It rejects the gallery system and engages with the geological time scale."

Form

  • Earthwork/Land Art.
  • Spiral shape (1,500 feet long).
  • Made of natural materials: basalt, mud, salt.
  • Site-specific (cannot be moved).
  • Changes with the environment (entropy).

Function

  • To escape the commercial gallery system.
  • To explore the concept of "Entropy" (degradation/change).
  • To reconnect art with the primal forces of nature.
  • To create a dialogue between the Constructive and Destructive.
  • To emphasize the journey (pilgrimage) to see it.

Content

  • Spiral: ancient symbol (petroglyphs, galaxies, whirlpools).
  • Red water: algae/bacteria (primordial soup).
  • Black rocks: industrial/heavy.
  • Salt crystals: the work "growing".
  • Man making a mark on the vast landscape.

Context

  • Smithson was interested in industrial ruins and geology.
  • The lake is a "dead sea".
  • Environmental movement (1970 was first Earth Day).
  • Smithson died in a plane crash surveying another site.
  • The work was submerged for decades, creating a myth.