Spiral Jetty

“Tough to choose one piece as I have endless recommendations, but something has always called to me about The Spiral Jetty; its theme, materials, location, and humble presence. I’ve been fortunate to see other Smithson pieces around the world, and I plan to pilgrimage to Utah in my lifetime to visit this one.”

“Robert Smithson's Spiral Jetty is not the easiest place to get to--it involves a long, bumpy drive into desert lands, past military contractor installations and a funny twisted train track monument to the Golden Spike. And once you get there, it feels almost laughably small: true, the rocks are massive, but up close, the grand clear spiral of photos fractures into a tumbled line of stone and becomes almost nothing compared to the sublime landscape. The day I was there, the sky was pale blue and streaked with clouds and the ground was scarfed and drifted with banks and blobs of salty foam; walking around, it felt as if the boundary between sky and land was very thin. In the distance, the salt lake shone pink and silver (wild to think that the Jetty was under water for so long; I hear the mud can be treacherous when the lake levels rise). I'm going back in September, and this time, visiting Nancy Holt's Sun Tunnels, which are a ways further on.”

“Holism(anthropological): "Holism is the perspective on the human condition that assumes that mind, body, individuals, society, and the environment interpenetrate, and even define one another. In anthropology holism tries to integrate all that is known about human beings and their activities. From a holistic perspective, attempts to divide reality into mind and matter isolate and pin down certain aspects of a process that, by very nature, resists isolation and dissection. Holism holds great appeal for those who seek a theory of human nature that is rich enough to do justice to its complex subject matter."”