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

Quote by Robert Smithson

Topics: Robert Smithson Quotes

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...

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

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

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...

Nature is never finished.

Nature is never finished.

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...

I am for an art that takes into account the direct effect of the elements...

I am for an art that takes into account the direct effect of the elements...

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...

Language operates between literal and metaphorical signification.

Language operates between literal and metaphorical signification.

The scenic ideals that surround even our national parks are carriers of a nostalgia for...

The scenic ideals that surround even our national parks are carriers of a nostalgia for...

Artists are expected to fit into fraudulent categories.

Artists are expected to fit into fraudulent categories.

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.

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...

Visiting a museum is a matter of going from void to void.

Visiting a museum is a matter of going from void to void.

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

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

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

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

Art's development should be dialectical and not metaphysical.

Art's development should be dialectical and not metaphysical.

Mistakes and dead-ends often mean more to these artists than any proven problem.

Mistakes and dead-ends often mean more to these artists than any proven problem.

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...

Some artists imagine they've got a hold on this apparatus, which in fact has got...

Some artists imagine they've got a hold on this apparatus, which in fact has got...