Some artists imagine they've got a hold on this apparatus, which in fact has got a hold of them. As a result, they end up supporting a cultural prison that is out of their control.

Quote by Robert Smithson

Topics: Robert Smithson Quotes

Abstraction is everybody's zero but nobody's nought.

Abstraction is everybody's zero but nobody's nought.

A work of art when placed in a gallery loses its charge, and becomes a...

A work of art when placed in a gallery loses its charge, and becomes a...

Objects in a park suggest static repose rather than any ongoing dialectic. Parks are finished...

Objects in a park suggest static repose rather than any ongoing dialectic. Parks are finished...

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

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

History is representational, while time is abstract; both of these artifices may be found in...

History is representational, while time is abstract; both of these artifices may be found in...

From the top of the quarry cliffs, one could see the New Jersey suburbs bordered...

From the top of the quarry cliffs, one could see the New Jersey suburbs bordered...

Words for mental processes are all derived from physical things.

Words for mental processes are all derived from physical things.

Questions about form seem as hopelessly inadequate as questions about content.

Questions about form seem as hopelessly inadequate as questions about content.

Museums are tombs, and it looks like everything is turning into a museum.

Museums are tombs, and it looks like everything is turning into a museum.

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

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

Art's development should be dialectical and not metaphysical.

Art's development should be dialectical and not metaphysical.

Artists themselves are not confined, but their output is.

Artists themselves are not confined, but their output is.

Language should find itself in the physical world, and not end up locked in an...

Language should find itself in the physical world, and not end up locked in an...

Cultural confinement takes place when a curator imposes his own limits on an art exhibition,...

Cultural confinement takes place when a curator imposes his own limits on an art exhibition,...

Instead of causing us to remember the past like the old monuments, the new monuments...

Instead of causing us to remember the past like the old monuments, the new monuments...

Nature does not proceed in a straight line, it is rather a sprawling development.

Nature does not proceed in a straight line, it is rather a sprawling development.

Painting, sculpture and architecture are finished, but the art habit continues.

Painting, sculpture and architecture are finished, but the art habit continues.

When a finished work of 20thcentury sculpture is placed in an 18th-century garden, it is...

When a finished work of 20thcentury sculpture is placed in an 18th-century garden, it is...

Language thus becomes monumental because of the mutations of advertising.

Language thus becomes monumental because of the mutations of advertising.

The museums and parks are graveyards above the ground- congealed memories of the past that...

The museums and parks are graveyards above the ground- congealed memories of the past that...