Artists on Robert Smithson

"Artists on Robert Smithson is the fifth volume in a series that builds upon Dia Art Foundation's Artists on Artists lectures. Established in 2001, the lecture series highlights the work of artists in Dia's collection from the perspective of their peers. The contributors to this volume engage with Smithson's work in myriad innovative ways; Matthew Buckingham's essay highlights Smithson's preoccupation with the ways in which histories of the earth are constructed and contested; Abraham Cruzvillegas considers Smithson's work with broken glass and architecture, advancing a theory of mediation and entropy; Mark Dion's didactic approach to the life and work of the artist recounts the conceptual and geologic conditions that led to his birth and development; Teresita Fernâandez confronts the limitations of dominant histories of place, art, and the monumental; Trevor Paglen considers Smithson's iconic spiral and his fascination with natural history, uncovering a desert imaginary; Rayyane Tabet weaves together a history of basalt, conceiving a geologic network that reveals histories of colonialism, surveillance, and strife; and finally, engaging with the science fiction canon and the genre's cinematic conventions, Diana Thater provides a close reading of Smithson's Spiral Jetty film. Together, these artists offer a vital, wide-ranging, and critical look at the work and legacy of the pioneering Land artist"--