History is representational, while time is abstract; both of these artifices may be found in museums, where they span everybody's own vacancy.

Quote by Robert Smithson

Topics: Robert Smithson Quotes

The museum spreads its surfaces everywhere, and becomes an untitled collection of generalizations that mobilize...

The museum spreads its surfaces everywhere, and becomes an untitled collection of generalizations that mobilize...

Language thus becomes monumental because of the mutations of advertising.

Language thus becomes monumental because of the mutations of advertising.

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...

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...

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...

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.

Artists themselves are not confined, but their output is.

Artists themselves are not confined, but their output is.

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

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

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...

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...

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...

Art's development should be dialectical and not metaphysical.

Art's development should be dialectical and not metaphysical.

Words for mental processes are all derived from physical things.

Words for mental processes are all derived from physical things.

Artists are expected to fit into fraudulent categories.

Artists are expected to fit into fraudulent categories.

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.

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...

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 a facsimile of events held together by finally biographical information.

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

Language operates between literal and metaphorical signification.

Language operates between literal and metaphorical signification.