When a finished work of 20thcentury sculpture is placed in an 18th-century garden, it is absorbed by the ideal representation of the past, thus reinforcing political and social values that are no longer with us.

Quote by Robert Smithson

Topics: Robert Smithson Quotes

Banal words function as a feeble phenomena that fall into their own mental bogs of...

Banal words function as a feeble phenomena that fall into their own mental bogs of...

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

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

A vacant white room with lights is still a submission to the neutral. Works of...

A vacant white room with lights is still a submission to the neutral. Works of...

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...

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

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

Language operates between literal and metaphorical signification.

Language operates between literal and metaphorical signification.

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.

Art's development should be dialectical and not metaphysical.

Art's development should be dialectical and not metaphysical.

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 a facsimile of events held together by finally biographical information.

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

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...

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.

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...

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...

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...

An emotion is suggested and demolished in one glance by certain words.

An emotion is suggested and demolished in one glance by certain words.

Artists are expected to fit into fraudulent categories.

Artists are expected to fit into fraudulent categories.

Words for mental processes are all derived from physical things.

Words for mental processes are all derived from physical things.