Smithson,+Robert

toc Read here about an artist that addressed issues of scale

=Overview= Robert Smithson (January 2, 1938–July 20, 1973) was an American artist famous for his land art.

Smithson is best known for his earthwork "spiral jetty". In conjunction with that work he published some writings on scale, reproduced below.



=Smithson on Scale= From Robert Smithson the Collected Writings by Robert Smithson, Jack D. Flam, pp. 146--150:

The scale of the Spiral Jetty tends to fluctuate depending on where the viewer happens to be. Size determines an object, but scale determines art. A crack in the wall, if viewed in terms of scale, not size, could be called the Grand Canyon. A room could be made to take on the immensity of the solar system. Scale depends on one’s capacity to be conscious of the actualities of perception. When one refuses to release scale from size, one is left with an object or language that appears to be certain. For me scale operates by uncertainty. To be in the scale of the Spiral Jetty is to be out of it. On eye level, the tail leads on into an undifferentiated state of matter. One’s downward gaze pitches from side to side, picking out random depositions of salt crystals on the inner and outer edges, while the entire mass echoes the irregular horizons. And each cubic salt crystal echoes the Spiral Jetty in terms of the crystal’s molecular lattice. Growth in a crystal advances around a dislocation point, in the manner of a screw. The Spiral Jetty could be considered one layer within the spiralling crystal lattice, magnified trillions of times...

The preceding paragraphs refer to a "scale of centers" that could be disentangled as follows:

(a) ion source in cyclotron (b) a nucleus (c) dislocation point (d) a wooden stake in the mud (e) axis of helicopter propeller (f) James Joyce's ear channel (g) the Sun (h) a hole in the film reel.

Spinning off of this uncertain scale of centers would be an equally uncertain "scale of edges":

(a) particles (b) protoplasmic solutions (c) dizziness (d) ripples (e) flashes of light (f) sections (g) foot steps (h) pink water

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=Links and References= Smithson in wikipedia: @http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Smithson

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