Partially Buried Woodshed, by Dorothy Shinn, 1990

Essayby DorothyShinn
t- * 4
*,
ai
fr
t:
.s#
his catalogueand exhibitionon RobertSmithson'sParliailyBuried
Woodshedretlect the Gallery'slong-termcommitment
to exhibrtrng
anddocumenting
theworkof innovative
twentielhcenluryartists The
Interesled
Galleryis especially
in thoseartistsandworksthathavea
specialconnection
to northeastern
Ohio OnJanuary22,1970,
Robert
Smithsondonatedlhe PartiailyBuriedWoodshedto the Schoolol Art
at KentSlateUniversityTheworkhadjustbeencreatedby Smithson
who,alongwitha handfulof studentstromthe Schoolot Art, renteda
backhoeand piled20 cartloadsol dirt on an abandonedwoodshed
untilthe centerbeamcracked.Afteran eventfulhistory.the physical
remainsol lhe Woodshedwereremovedin January1984, I The
represents
exhibition
thesupportandcollaboration
of manyindividuals
andorganizalionsFirstol all, I gratefully
acknowledge
the supportol
the Ohio Arts Council Additionalsupportwas providedby the Art
HistoryClubandthe Friendsof the Gallery DorothyShinnservedas
guest curalor,and I am deeplyindebtedto her for her expertise,
enthusiasm,
and hard work lt has, in fact, been a great pleasure
workingwith her The ideasand knowledgeof the materialthat Ms,
Shinncontributedmade the planningand organization
ot this very
projectan enjoyableandexcitingexperienceTheadviceof
important
AlexGildzen,BrinsleyTyrrell.MelSomeroski.
andNancyHotisgreatly
appreciatedI wouldalso liketo thankthe Gallerystatl - especially
proiectdesignersBruceMorrill and SteveTimbrook- for their hard
work and creative input I Withoutthe lenderstherewouldbe no
exhibilion ThereforeI am gratetulto : The AkronArl Museum;The
ClevelandMuseumol Art: The HerbertF JohnsonMuseumot Arl
CornellUniversity;The HirshornMuseumand SculptureGarden,
SmithsonianInstitulron:
The John Weber Gallery,New York: the
WexnerCenterfor the VisualArts,The Ohio StateUniversitv;and
StanlordAoseloff,Kent
Fred T. Smith, Director
Schoolof Art Gallenes
KentState University
ometimein the winterof 1984,the
wood and stucco remains ol PartiaIIy Buried Woodsheddisappeared
The earth sculplurehad beencreatedin 1970by Robertlrvingsmithson (1938-1973),
who alongwith a
handfulof studentsfrom the Kent
StateUniversitySchoolot Arl,rented
a backhoeandpiledtwentycartloads
of dirt on an abandonedwoodshed
untilthecenterbeamcrackedSmithson thennamedthe workand gave
it to the Universily
alongwiththeadm on i t i o n t o a l l o w i t t o d e c a y
(1) I Smithson'smainpurnaturally
pose in makingthis work was lo
demonstratethe idea ol entropy.
Buthewasalsointerested
in the accumulation
ot history,envisioning
a
workthatwouldincreasein meaning
as it decreasedin physicalreality,a
worklhat wouldgain in legendas it
ciations,so thatby the timeit vanishedlrom the earth,it hadbecome
withan artist,a movement,
synonymous
andan era I Smithson
was
yearslaterin a plane
bornin Passaic,NewJersey,anddiedthirty-tive
Amarillo
crashin Amarillo,Texas,whilesurveyinghisearthsculpture.
Ramp,a lastworkthatis in manyrespectsa continuation
of lhe ideas
presentedin PadiallyBuried Woodshed In 1969-70he had done
AsphaltRundownin Rome,llaly, ConcretePourlor the Chicago"Art
by Telephone"
exhibit,and GluePourin Vancouver Smithson,who
hadagreedto cometo Kentin January1970for a weekfor $1000,was
givelecturesandcritiques,
to be artist-in-residence.
his
andculminate
week-longactivitieswith a mud pour, which would have been an
extenuation
of his mostrecentactivities Bul in the frigidcoldof that
Northeast
Ohiowinter,mudwouldnotpour: Smithsongotthe flu and
retreated
to thehouseof sculplureprofessor
BrinsleyTyrrell.wherehe
diminishedin existence. And PartiallyBuried Woodsheddidprecisely
lhat. Fromthe momenlil was conceived,Ihe Woodshedcollected
at
tiludes.events.actionsand asso-
said Smithson, he had always liked the idea ol burying a building"(3)
I How the Woodshed was chosen was partly a matler of chance,
partly olconvenience The shed, awood lath and stucco structurefilled
with dirt, gravel and firewood, was part of an old farm acquired by the
University and al the time was located on an unused back lot ol the
made plans to return to
N ew Y ork .(2) B ut, Ty rrel l
s ai d. the s tudents w oul d
not l et hrm: "They c ame
out to the house and sat
about on the living room
floor and talked about what
else they could do Well,
(Smithson) envisloned
a work lhat would
lncreesgin meaning a3 il
decrcased in phyglcal
reellty.
a
I
A'
I
lF<
r;i
-P
campus, far away from the marn burldrngs As Tynell recalled,"One of
the students got permissiontor that buildrng Smithsondidn't like all ol
the wood in there so we carted mosl ol rt oul We spent all day carting
wood out .lt was a miserablejob He sal around and did drawings ol
how the earth was going to go " (4) I Alex Grldzen professoro{ library
a d m in istr a tio nwa
, s a m o n g the w rl nesses,troeztng, but tasctnated
wrth what was happening ''l remerrber standrng by a fire while
Sm ith so n ,ske tch b o o kin h a n d. expl arnedw rl h gesturesto l ocal con.
tractor Rich Helmling how to bury lhe Woodsltt}d l-heearlh had been
lrucked there from a construction stlc on ilnother part ol campus
Sm ith so n to o k p ictu r e s o f the process w rl h i l n Instamati cand i nstructed University photographer Doug Moore who also documented
the site's construction.to try to avord photoqraphingpeople, just the
shed and earth and backhoe " (5) I Tht: r:arthwas prledon the Woodsh e d u n tilth e ce n te rb e a m cr acked For S nrrl hsonthe cracki ngol the
beam was crucial to the concept ol the prr)cc tor it symbolized the
beginning of the process ol entropy wltrch lrr: cornpared to Humpty
Dumpty: "A closed system which evenlu.rllydr)tenoralesand starts to
break apart and there's no way that you roirlly prece rt back together
a g a in " I
En tr o p yis a co n cepl thal hi rs rrr;rnrl t.,sted
rtsel fi n many ot
Smithson's works He believed that not only were the processes ol
creatron rmportant,but also the processes th() preceexperrencedafler
th e cr e a tr n gwa s co m p le te These proccssoshe cal l ed entropy,the
gradual dissolution and decay ol organrc matter Smithson saw
entropy aS part ot an ongoing dialeclrcbelwoon accepted, but tor him
intolerable notions aboul the permanencc lrxily and preciousness ol
art as obiect (6) I At that time not only lhese rrolronsbut the concept
ot the gallery Systemitself were under Intensedebate In the arl world
The building ol art works in remote locatronsor lhe Intlrattonol unique,
temporary art works were some of the new approaches to art making
sparked by these discussions Michael Herzer was one of the tirst
a r tiststo b r in g th e g a lle r y.a s i l w ere, to the l andscape In 1968 he
H
)
'/
i-
G'!
')"
t
x\t
a
createda Seriesof excavations
in
Massacre
DryLake,Nevada,
called
NineNevadaDepressions. This
work. now deteriorated.can be
seen most easilyin photographic
documentationSmithsonand his
wite, artist and filmmakerNancy
Holt,loinedHeizerin Nevadathat
summerand Holt tookpicturesof
Smithsondigginga trenchtor /solatedMass/Ckcumfrer,
the ninthol
thedepressions.
I Smithsonhad
been experimenting
with serial
sculpture
increasof progressively
ing size. such as the illusionistic
P/unge (1966) and lhe Alogon
series,whenhebeganto makethe
shittto workingwithlargeouldoor
sites The first of these was Proposals lot lhe Dailas-FortWotth
RegionalAirport(1966),never realized. The most signilicantof
them was PartiallyBuried Woodshed, lot it markedthe beginning
of outdoorworkson a grandscale.
(7) I Smithsonhad been working in the actuallandscapefor two
yearswhen he beganmakingexcursionsto "urban,industrialand
quarrysilesin New Jersey,many
of whichhe documenlsin a photojournal" TheyearHeizermadehis
t
t\lr
Nevadawork,Smithsonmadethreeworkswhichhe calledNonsltes
Theseinvolvedtravelingto a particular
location,mappingthe location
with aerialmaps,collectingmaterialkom the site and placingit in
paintedmetalbins He exhibiledlhe binsalongwithmapsol thearea,
so that the non-site(thebins)actuallyand conceptually
wouldreflect
the site (maps) I Later,Smithsonplayedfurtheron the conceptof
site displacementand reflection'.theactual and the conceptual-throughthe useof mirrors He wrote:"l'm usinga mirrorbecausethe
mirrorin a senseis boththephysicalmirrorandlhe rellection:Themirror as a conceptand abstraction;thenthe mirroras a fact withinthe
mirrorof the concept Herethe stte/non-site
becomesencompassed
by mirroras a concepl--mtrroring,
the mirrorbeinga dialectic The
mirroris a displacement,
as an abstraction
absorbing.reflectingthe
site in a very physicalway lt's anolherlevel of processthal l'm
exploring A difterentmethodof containment."
(8) I Smithsonalso
used mirrorsin the landscapeto etfeclan onsitedisplacement
as it
were The mostnotableof thesemirrordisplacements
occurredin tncidents ol Mirror Travel in the Yucatan,publishedin Ailorum in
Seplember1969 Smithsontooka tripto the YucatanPeninsulaand
documenteda seriesof nine mirrordisplacements
throughphoto.
graphsandan essay Thepublished
articleis considered
a workol art
Seenas oneof Smithson's
mostcomplexpieces,it combinesimagery,
narration,
art history,andcriticism I Wtritein lhe Yucalan,Smithson
stayedat the HotelPalenque,
a run-downestablishment
in simultaneousstatesol ruinandrenewalThehotelwasbeingrebuilt.butinstead
of beingleveledat once,as we woulddo it in the U,S.,it wasbeingtorn
down in some places,newlybuilt in others The notion of slow
destructionand an archileclurethat defieslunctionalism
fascinated
Smithson,and he used his photographsas the basis ol a lecture
deliveredto architecture
studentsat the Universityol Uiah in 1972
(9) I These,then,weresomeof theideasthathadbeenfulminating
in Smithson's
headwhenhe arrivedat KentStateUniversity
duringone
Smithsonsawenlropy
as parl of an ongoing
dialoctic between
accepled notion3 about
lhe permanence,lirily,
and preciousness of arl
es obiect.
of the coldestwinterson recordand foundthal mud wouldnot pour.
The alternative
ol buryinga small,makeshiftoutbuilding
on an aban'
donedlarm seemedal firsl not nearlyas significant
as pouringmud
down a hillsideI Tynell,lor one, had no idea that the Woodshed
wouldbecomea majorworkof art. "lt was likethis,"saidTyrrell "You
bringa visilingartistin and havehimdo histhing. Whenhe did it, we
'let'stry to keepthis goingfor a while,' But I don't
saidto ourselves.
believewe thoughtit wasgoingto getterriblyimporlanl.lt shocksme
whenI see a wholewallol photographs
in somemuseumdevotedto
ol Woodshed
Smithson:someot themwereoriginalpholographs
and
somewerelater" (10)I Eventhoughno one thoughtthe buryingof
lhe Woodshedwouldgrow into anythinggreater,Smithsondid one
morethingbeforehe leftKent He gavetheworka nameand a value
of $10,000 On January22, the date the work was completed,he
givingtheworkto the University(11) Bydoingthat
signeda statement,
he madeit necessarylor Kenl to deal \withsomethingthat lvouldboth
baflleandfrustralethe University
at almosleveryturn.I For Tynell,
merelya tacticto keep
assigninga dollarvaluetolhe Woodshedwas
hom bulldozing
the University
overthe pieceaflerthe springthaw: "lt
wasgivena $10.000valuebecauseil we weregoingto try to preserve
thisthing,lhen we couldarguemoney,"saidTyrrell "l didn'twantto
with the University So SmithsoncalledDwan(his
argueaesthetics
galleryat thetime)andaskedDwanto givehima value Andthatwas
the numbertheycameup with Themoneythingwasalwaysa gameat least I think it was--toconveyits imporlanceto peopleto whomyou
couldn'l talk about aeslhetics" (12)I On January23 Smithson
returnedlo NewYork.In Aprilthatsameyearhebuiltperhapshismost
lamouswork, SpiralJetty.at RozelPointin the Greal Salt Lake,near
Ogden.Utah At lhatsamesite.Smithsonmadeuseot anotherwoodshed by spreadingmica over the lloor of the buildingand on the
adjoiningconcreteslab outside. Holt remembersthe use of lhat
woodshed:she alsorecalledlheSpnalJenyMuseum,a proiectnever
realized: "He was going to build a litlle museun) near lhe Sgral Jetty,
a n d th a t m u se u m wa s g o in g to be coveredw i th earth " (13) I S mrthson did make the classic film "fhe SpiralJetty, however, and he made
several proposals that year tor projecls thilt were never realized:
Texas Overilow, Barge of Sulphur Floating lsland: To Travel Around
Manhaftan tstand: and Boston Project Juggernaut (14) I While
Smithson was otherwise engaged, Kent State Unrversitybecame the
focus of national atlention, when on May 4, 1970, lour students were
killed and nine others wounded by Ohio National Guardsmen dunng a
protest on lhe campus against the American invasion ol Cambodia
The campus was shut down, and the tragedy domrnatedthe headhnes
here and abroad for weeks and months to come (15) I Holt recalled
th e sh o o tin g svivid ly: "l th in k one of the most shockrngthi ngs.w hen
I lookback,werethe Kentshootings lt shockedme morethan the
presidentgettingassassinatedI thinkit changedeveryone'smind,
eventhosewho were conservative.So many peoplejust switched
just becamevery,very
theirbeliefsovernightafler that. Everything
clear."(16)I Sometimeduringthe periodwhen the Universitywas
closed(Gildzenbelievesit wasin July,six monthsafterSmithsonleft),
someonepaintedin boldwhiteletlerson lhe woodshed"May4 Kent
70 " Thus,the piecewhichhadalreadyundergonesomecontroversy
linkedwiththe shootingsat KentStateUniversity
becameirrevocably
(17) I SaidHolt:"obviously,
thestudents,
or whoeverdidthatgralitti-it's an exampleol gralitti that enhances--the
studentsobviously
recognized
theparallel.Pilingtheearthuntillhecentralbeamcracked,
as thoughthe wholegovernment,
the wholecounty were cracking
Really,we hada revolution
then lt wastheendof onesocietyandthe
beginningol the nexl." This view of the work rellectsthe same
voicedin a 1975lenerfromHoltto Gildzenin whichshesaid
sentiments
political"and that
she believedlhe Woodshedlo be "intrinsically
Smithsonhimsellhadseentheworkas ''prophetic"(18)I Hadit not
beentorthosefewstrokesof whiteoaint.onewondersif the Woodshed
mightnot havebeen left to rot in relativequiet EvenGildzen,who
normallytakes a laissez-laireview of bureaucraticmachinations,
wonderedit the May 4 link did not eventuallyalienate,as he put it,
"certainuniversilyadministrators
who were lo stand againstthe
" (19) I Forabouttwo yearswhilethe University
piece'spreservation
was othen,iseoccupiedin rebuildingits shatleredreputation,the
Woodshedenioyeda briefpeace Then,in 1973Smithsondiedin an
flightlorthetinalplanning
airplanecrashwhileon an aerialobservation
stagesof a siteon a privaleranchin Texasownedby StanleyMarsh,
lifteenmilesnorthweslof AmarilloTownshio--a
sitethatwouldeventuallybecomeAmaillo Ramp(20)I SevenmonthsafterSmithson's
NancyHolt,wrote
death,galleryownerJohnW Weber,representing
if "the
Gifdzen,askingaboutthestateof the Woodshedandwondering
5
W;
z#$i
e*IFp
" The money thing was
alwaysI gemelo conYey ils imporlance to
poople lo whom you
couldn't talk aboul
ae3thellcs."Tyreil
sch o o l r s in fo r med ol the consrderabl eInl nnsrcval ue of the w ork "
We b e r a lso to ld Gi l dzenthat w hen 'B ob made the pi ece.the ofl gi nal
id e a wa s th a t it be al l ow ed to 'go back l o l he l and , how ever.Mrs
Sm ith so nfe e ls that becausethe orecers an Inroorl antw ork, i t shoul d
be preserved and taken care ol " Grldzenlorwarded a copy ol Weber's
le tte r to lh e n Uni versi typresi dentGl en A Ol ds (21) I Four months
la te r Old s. a n tici pati ngthe deadhnel or sonrel andscaprngl o begi n i n
conrmi l nrentto l he scul pth a t a r e a a n d n ot know i ngl he U nrversrl y's
tu r e , h a d a ske d U ni versrtyarchrteclGtre R usso l o prepare pl ans l or
la n d sca p r n gth e area Thrspl an cal l edl or l l re (:l rrnrnal ron
ol the S mi th'
so n e a r th wo r kand rai sedan uproaranronql h(),l rtschoolfacul ty The
p r o b le mwa s r e sol vedby the 15 merrl b()rl Jnrversrty
A rts C ommi ssi on
(UAC). which. to the reliel ol lhe Woodshed
suooorters,voted to save it lt would bc a shorl
live dr e lr e lh o wever,and f rom thrsporntonw i l rd
lhe Woodsheds accumulalion ol hrstory ittor
a lly ca u g h t f ir e I On March 28, 1975 durrnq
th e Un ive r sity' sspnng break,someoneburncd
th e str u ctu r e ,actual l ydestroyrngmost ol l h(:
left half ot the shed. where the logs had bccn
sto r e d , b u t sp ari ng the si gni fi cantri ght tral l
wh e r e lh e e a r th had been pi l ed (22) B etw ecn
th e b u r n e dh a lfof the shed and the undanl aged
h a lf. p o lice to und an empty, benl P epsr c;tn
with a sm a ll a m ountot kerosenei n rt A l though
arson was suspected, no charges were ever
fr le d ( 2 3 ) I Uni versi ty otfi ci al s w anl ed to
the burnedl etthal tand the undamd e m o lishth e whol e structure--both
a g e d r ig h t h a lf--because,they sard, nol onl y w as rl no l onger the
o r ig in a lwo r k.it had becomeunsafeand w as a eyesore H ol t how ever,
wrote a letter to Olds asking that the sculpture be saved She had
visited the site shortly alter the fire and had decrdedthat even though
the workwas partiallydeslroyed,it shouldbe allowedto remainin its
damagedcondition She made severalsuggeslionas to how the
damagedportionsol the shedmightbe reinforced
and askedthatshe
be kept inlormedaboutthe preservation
of "thissigniticanl
art work"
(24) HoltrecalledthatOldswroteback"tellingme the University
was
goingto keepthe woodshed" But hersuggestrons
wereneveracted
uDon lnstead.UAC recommended
that the burned sectionand
remaining
roofbe torndownandremoved(25)I Meanwhile,
debale
beingbroadcastin thecampus
as to the meritsof the Woodshedwere
newspaper(26) lt wasduringthisdebatelhat a newlhemewas deleadto the wc,k'sdisappearanceThrs
velopedthatwouldeventually
was the increasingly
voicedconcernfor the safetyot thosewhomight
makethe trek to the spot and Inlurelhemselveson the debris Thus the policyof
labelingwhateverfell to the ground"debris"
was established Aboutthe sametime that
:'>
'i
UACvotedto savethesculpture,
thecampus
...i. t'
' : t ': ...i
dormant
beganto hear lrom a previously
't
'1
'
'. i!+'- coirmineecalledrhe Commissionon Cam: 'j \'r '
p u s Ph ysi ca la n d N a tu r a l En vi r o n m e n l
't r.. (CCPNE),whicheventually
urgedthat the
,-2
(27)I SoOlds
workbedestroyed.
. Smithson
had two proposals: To save lhe Woodshed
andto tearil down Andthe groundskeepers
alsohadtheirjobsto do whileolds wasponto follow,
dering which recommendation
^ groundskeepers
didwhattheyarepaidto do-cartawaydebris,including
the charredremainsof the lefthalfot the
Woodshed.I The day the groundscrew arrivedwith its backhoe,
Tyrrell,Gildzen,and acting direclorol the School ot Art, Robert
Morrow,wentto the siteand spentthe day arguingwhichportionsof
lhe Woodshedcould
be removedandwhichshouldrematn(28) While
7
itHt,j
lxlii
iffl, rri:
ffi
I
they were al the site definingwhal was and was not debris,Gallery
DirectorMel Someroski
wason the phoneto University
administrators
definingtheir legalobligationsto the work Theireftortssavedthe
unburnedhaltfromthe bulldozer's
bucketandprovideda lew onlookerswithmomentosGildzenmanagedto collecta relicfromtheburned
left half.a charredpieceof sidingwhichhe gaveto the University's
SpecialCollections.
I Thatwas 1975 Atlerthatthe commorron
surroundingthe Woodshedseemedto subside,andit was lettfor a while
to seekits owndestiny Butthe University
stillwasn'tpleasedwiththe
work Thereit was.a charredandcrumbling
shedpartiallyengulledby
a weed-intested
moundol dirt,sittingout in ihe middleol an openfield
facingSummitStreet,whichbecauseit led to the new stadiumhad
becomea new gatewayto the campus FromSummilit was easyto
see that on lhe brokenlintelof the Woodshed,
standingout boldand
white.was the "May4 Kent70" gratliti, lt was one ot the firstthings
visitingalumnisaw,and it disturbedthem So the University
cameup
witha solution:Theylandscaped
the site In realitythelandscape
was
a barricade--adense cluslerof last growingconifers,strategically
placedso as to blocka clearviewof theworkfromeitherRhodesRoad
or SummitStreel One actuallyhad to walk out to the site to see
it I And walkout to the sitetheydid The placehad becomea kind
ol shrine--one
of the firstplacesvisitingartistsaskedto be taken (29)
lronically,
however,amongmanyol theArtSchoolfacultytheworkwas
eilherresentedor nearlyforgotten Indeed,one ol the ironiesol the
work is that rt usuallyhas been betlerknownand appreciated
elsewhere In 1980a KentStateUniversity
professor
told a classthatthe
workhad (thankfully)
longagobeendemolished(30) Thisstartling,
if
promptedsomestudentsto investigate
erroneous,revelation
andthat
samewinlermakea pilgrimage
to the spotto toastthe stillstanding,
thoughmuchdiminished,
work on its tenthanniversary(31)I Two
more years were lo pass with scant notice given lo lhe Woodshed,
excepttor the occasionalart classvisitor lonestudentfulfillingan as-
. ->-r- -.
signment In the summerof 1982artistand formerKent graduate
studentJohn Parcherlook severalphotographs
ol lhe Woodshed.
RobertBeckman'sphotoswere taken in the fall of 1982,and the
lollowingwinterPatrickWilbrahamusedthe Woodshedto meetthe
requirements
of a photography
class As thesepicturesshow,the
crackedcenler beam had alreadylallendown. and the sides were
beginningto cave in The processol entropywas accumulating.
I We donl know preciselywhen the Woodshedwas finallytaken
away,but we do knowwhaleverdebrisfell to the groundwas carted
groundskeepers
awayby Unrversrty
dorngroutinemaintenanceThe
factol itsdisappearance
was nol noticeduntilFebruary1984 But by
reconstructing
the events,we can surmisethat in January 1984,
lourteenyearsto the monthalterSmithsonpileddirton the shedand
crackedthe centerbeam.the physicalremarns
of the Woodshedwere
removed(32)I The work.whrchhad becomepartof the JamesA
MichenerCollectionat the Kent StateUniversitySchoolof Art, had
gallerycameup with
beengivenvariousvalues In 1970Smithson's
the figure$10,000 When the UniversityArt Schoolhad the piece
reevaluated
lor insuranceouroosesin 1981.rt was said to be worth
$40,000 But JohnWeberof WeberGallery,whichhad represented
the Smithsonestatesrncethe Sculotor's
death.said,whentoldof the
shed'sdisappearance,
that the work had a valueof $250,000 (33)
Somehavewonderedil the workis worthanythingnow,becauseall
thats leftof the sculptufeis the moundof earth,the foundationof the
shed,the memoryof lhe work,and thesephotographsI For some,
that puts Smithsonand severalof his works in the conceptualarl
category,but that not only misrepresenls
the historyof the work but
disregardsthe artisl'spointof view. For Smithsonwas very much
againstconceptualarl as severalof his publishedwrilingsattest.
proposals,
Indeed,all of Smithson's
works,eventhe unrealized
were
meantto be actual,notconceptualI Duringthelastfiveyearsof his
lifeSmithsonhad beenat the vanouardof an art movementknownas
Had it not been lor
t h o s e l e w s l ro k e s o f
w h rt e p a i n t o n e
w o n d e rs i l t h e
W o o d s h e d mi g h t n o t
have been le(t to rot in
relative quiet.
w
k'*. p*e
EarthArt.a formthatgrewout of the Minimalislmovemenlol the late
1960sTheMinimalists
changed
thebasicnalureol three-dimensional
art according
to sculptorRobertMorris,"komparticular
formsto ways
of orderrng,to methodsof production.
and finallyto perceptualrelevance" Or lrom object'oriented
arl to systems-onented
art; trom
thingsto thewaythingsaredone (43)I Thegrowthof EarthArtkom
Minimalism
wasprogressive
ratherthanradical Smithsonandothers,
notablyMorns Heizer.and Walterde Maria,graduallyshiftedtheir
focustromtheart makrng-systems
to a moreliteraluseof materialand
the processes
themselves(35)I In manyof hisworks,andcertainly
ln his last ones--ParliallyBuried Woodshed.Spiral Jetty. Broken
CircleSpiralHillrnEmmen,Holland.andAmarilloRamp-boththeuse
of spiralsandthe processol entropywereof primeimportance,
andin
mind thetwoideasfedone upontheother I Theideaot
Smithson's
the spiralhad beenusedin his workalmostfromthe beginning(36)
The mounCol earththatSmithsonusedfor PartiallyBuriedWoodshed
was not casuallyplaced:it formeda climbing,curvedramp shape,
hintingat a spiral According
to RobertSwick.a friendol Smithson's
lor bringinghrmto Kenl: "he (Smithson)
andthestudentresponsible
madedrawrngsbeforehand
of exactlyhowit wasgoingto be,andthe
earlhwas put on scoopby scoop.like applyingpaintwith a brush"
1371I Entropyandthespiralarebuttwo aspectsof time,andtimein
important
all its aspectswasextremely
hislife
to Smithsonthroughout
proposal
as a artist As earlyas'1964.in an unpublished
lor a work.
revealedthisInterestHedescribed
tilledTheElminalorSmithson
the
work as "a clockthat doesn'tkeeptime but losesit The intervals
between
thetlashesof neonare'voidintervals'or
whatGeorgeKubler
calls 'the rupturebetweenpast and luture' fhe Eliminatoro(derc
negativetimeas it avoidshistoncal
space" (38)I Butthekrndof time
Smithsonmostwantedto represenlwas notourconlemporary
sense
of time,but a orimordral
time--time
thattlowsIn buriedstreams.
that
)t'
Tr ury*'
,&;;',
((
&
,m.ifr*
t1l
I
h wes on6 of lhe
tirsl lhlngs vl3lilng
alumni saw, and il
disturbedlhem.
sh itlsi n geol ogrcmeasuresand w ears In
glacral cycles not measured incremen
tally nor kept by clocks (39) I Smrlh.
so n was keenl yaw are ot l he many vi ssrtu d es of ti me,and hrsrumtnati onson the
subject eventually led hrm to the development of a theorelrcal base tor his art
th a t he cal l edentropy (40) l t w as, to put
it mi l dl y, a phrl osophyopposed l o the
m e chani sti c,
trme corl quenngvi ew of the
wo r l d and anti thetrcalto nottonsof precio usnessand rmmutabrhty
automal i cal l y
g iven to anythrngcal l ed art (41) Thi s
view of art would put Smrthson at odds
wilh tradi tronalnotrons nol onl y ot art
making, but arl buyrng and preservalion
ll iS a vi ew that fhes In l he face ol the
co n ceptsol museunl s.gal l eri es,and arl '
a s- commodi ty(42) I In vrew ot S mi thson's strong involvemenl wrth entropy
and his ironical view ol technology, Partial ly Buried W oodshedbecomes increasin g ly i mportantas a manrl estati on
ol hi s
philosophy lls creation and decay serve
nol only to recognize In the most concrele way time's succesive conditions,
b u t to make cl ear S mi thson'songoi ng
sculptural concern with the problematic
nature of torm-- not its mystique, but its
mutability For smithson "allowed for
se a sonal vanatronsi n the state of hts
sculpturesHeassumedmultiple
states,
notjustone " (43)I And in a veryreal
sense.thosestatescontinueto multiply,the organization
of this exhibitand
writingot thiscatalogbeingamongthem
Thus,in manywaystheworkconlrnues
to exrst For just as Panially Buried
Woodshedwas a "seminalworkwhich
hasinfluenced
muchotherart."it is also
a workot manyparts,thedisinlegration
of the wood-andstuccostructurebeing
one I As Tyrrellnoled: "All that he
(Smithson)was concernedwith was
thatil pickedhisloryup--thalit didn'tget
builtandbulldozed
over Andit'spicked
up a prenygoodhistory while it stood,
anyonewho knew anythingaboutart
wantedto see it Everytime we had
Blossom,we took visitingarlistsover
thereand showedil to them,likea pilgrimage lt'soneol the mostintluential
thingsincontemporary
art."(45)I The
specialleatureol PaniailyBuriedWoodshedwasthenotionol a breakingpoinl,
and somehowthis leaturepermeated
its surroundings.lt becamenot onlya
sculpture(andtor some a shrine),but
an importantsymbolol a periodduring
whrchthe moralsandethicsof a University, a state and even a nationwere
pushedbeyondwhattheycouldbear
:i .$ '
.
fll
{id
lF o r so m e th e o r o ce sse sini ti a te d in 1 9 7 0 b y th e b r e a kingof
the center beam came to a conclu sio n a lm o sl e xa ctly fo u r t een
ye a r s la te r wh e n th e tin a l fal l en
remains of Parila lly Buried Woodsf,ed were carted away But for
m a n y o lh e r s, m yse lf in clu ded,
e ve n th o u g h th e m o r ta l r e m ai ns
ol lhe Woodshed have disapp e a r e db e ca u seo f tim e ,th e w ork
of art lives on In soite of il
12
13
Giklzen,Aler' PadiallyEudedwooctshed A RoberlSmithsonLog " Arls
MagazineSp€cial lssue: Rob€n
May 1978.p 118
S mi rhson,
Tyrrell,BrinsleyInterviewon
March
22, 19t!4
Tyrr€llIntorview
4
f
6
14
Tyrrellint€rview
Gtdzsn. "Paftially Euried Woodshet
Alloway,Lawrenco "RobertSmithson'sD€velopmenl" Artlorum.Nov€mber1972 Pages53-61 Allowaynotssthat"entropyrsa loaded
term in Smithson'svocabulary ll
customaily means decreasingorganizalion
and.alongwilhthat,loss
of distinclivensss" But "Smithson's
appligslho idea to tim€ Basrcally,
Smithson'sideaof entropyconcerns
not only th€ dolerioralionof order,
though h€ obs€rv€s il avidly, 'but
rath€r the clash ol uncoordinal€d
orders,' to quote a formulalionof
RudolphArnh€im's' Se€ alsoTh€
Wrilir€s of Robert Smithson, ed
NanclHolt,pp 189-195NewYork:
New York Univ€rsityPress, 1979
Rob€rr Hobbs Rob€rt Smithson: I
Sculpturelthacaand London: CorPress,1981,p 191, 10
n€llUnivsrsity
andOnsitef4 (Fall1973,pp26.30,
1l
int€rviewwith AlisonSky
lbrd "there is a shitt in Smilhson's
work lo outdoor silss solely, larg€ in
scale. andfre€dol significativebonds,
which is marked by his Panially gutied W@dshed. 1970. al K€nt State
University, Ohio,. He had ak€ady
used a truck in Asphalt Bundown lhe
year b€fore, and now he used a
backhoe on a lraclor lo pil€ dirl onto
the shed until the central b€am
cracked The man-made (lhe structure) and the inchoate (disordered
masses ot soil) were broughtlogether
lo createa slress situatron Ths work
was linished when the beam broke,
so that lhe timing of collapse is, in a
sense. the subi€ct landscape and
its systems or ordering have been
familiarlo Smithson most ol his [fe,
and their oresence can b€ lslt on
every levelol hisartandthinking He
rs not building barriers around tragments of p€rsonalily or stylistic innovatron. as happened wilh a good
deal ot arl In the'60s He does not
attempt to fix reality in a perman€nl
lorm by means of art, but demon'
strates a sustained and interlocked
view of a permanent reality
"Rob€rt Hobbs Robert Smithson:
Sculpture Pag€s 132-5
lbid Pages 164-5
12 Tyrrellinterview
13 NancyHoll Intervrew
on April23.
1984
14 Hobbs,pp 241-43
15 A k ronB eac onJ ournal
May 5 1970
16 Holtinlerview
'17 Gildzen.Alex Intervrew
on Aonl17
1984
18 Hollinterview
SeealsoHobbs,page
191
19 Gildzeninterview Hollagreedwith
Gildzen's
ass€ssment,
bul lor olher
reasons "The historyol the woodshed really refleclson a lor of lhe
ooliticsand socialb€haviorand the
thsori€sol mainlenanceand danger,"she said "Worksof art tondto
bs tocalpointsandcentersof energy
that other p€ople spin otl of, and
lhal's b€causeworksot arl haveno
otherreasonlor existencs;theyare
nol lherelor any funclionalreason.
sotheygetfighttotheheartoflhings"
20 Hobbs.o 243
21 Gildzen, "Pattially Euried Woodshed
Ty(ell interview
Smilhson's Deed. in his own handwiting , giving Parr,a lly Buried Woodsf,od to Kent state university Deoanmenl ol Arl
22 Bierman.William "Burnlhe WoNshed! Soare the Wooclshed Beacon Magazine,AkronBeaconJournal, July 7. 1975.p 6 See also
Gildzen,'Panially Euried Woods hed."o119
23 Kent State UniversityPoliceCrims
Report, Case Report No 5-2300
-ArsonFiroat VacantFieldandShsd
at SummitSt and RhodesRd " 28
March,1975(2048hrs )
24 Hott, Nancy Letterto Olds, 4 May
19 7 5
25 HollinterviewSeealsoBierman,
p
6. and Gildzen, 'Partially Builed
p 119-120
Woodshed."
26 "Lenersto lhe Edrtor" The Oaily
K6nlStater,20May 1975 Seefacsimil€,p 3, App€ndixL
p 6-7
27 Brerman,
28 Tyrrellinterview See also Gildzen,
" Panally Buried Woodshed,"p 120
groundske€pers had inslruclions nol
to remove any standrng slfucture al
the sit€ "The only thing we have
done with il is to lake away the loose
debris that was around the oulsrde,'
he said Thrs "loose debris'was removed, according lo hrs records, on
April 22. July 20. and October 25,
1983. andagarnon January3, 1984 "
33 Shinn See also Keuhner. John C
"Artful VanrshrngAcl? 'ShedGone,
Valuedal $25.0O0" RecordCoufl€r.
Kent'Ravenna, Ohio, Feb.uary 27,
1984, DD 1 and I 1
34 Anderson,Wayne AmericanSculplure In Progress: 1930/1970 (Boston: New York Graphic Sociely.
1975), pp 239 259
35 One ol the earhest pieces to engage
in lhe objectification ot syslems are
lhe Alogonsculptures In'l966using
30 This is lhe recolleclionof th€ authot
contradiclory malhematical systgms.
The event occurred in a painting
Smithson designed three groups of
class
slepped sculptures that he named
A/ogon Combinrng a linearequation
31 Nighswander,
Marcy Photograph,
lhal ordered each indrvidualunit and
Akron B€aconJournal,January23.
a quadratic equation thal orcleredthe
1980,Sec 8, p 1
units as a group. Smilhson set up a
conlradiclion lhat resulted in a subtle
32 Shinn, Oorolhy "KSU Woodsh€d
lension belwe€n th€ stalic consecuDrsappears:Only Foundatlon,Pile
tive grouprng of repealed torms land
of Drrt R€main" Akron Beacon
th€dynamic orderingol space They
Journal,February25, 1984,Sec,C
app€arlo rec€de to a vanFhing poinl,
P 1 ,co 1 - 6 ,' Bich a r d EDu n n ,KS U
warping real space and making it
vice-Dresidenl
ol businessatlairsand
se€m illusionislic
lr e a su r e r , sa id lh e u n ive r si ty
Smithson said ol this work: "the
lille AlQgon comes Irom the Gr€ek
29 Tyrrellinterview
word which rsf€rs to th€ unnamosty'e smithson's adoplionol th€
abl€. and inationalnumb€r. There
spiralmolif conlraslodstronglywilh
iconsol
was ahflaysa senseof o.d€ring,but
ths in€rl and s€lf-contained
I couldn'lreallycall il malhematrcal
Minimalism--th€
circl€,tnanglo,rec'
notation, There was a conscioustangleor square His spiral€dMi,zot
nessol geom€trylhal I workedfrom
Prolotyp tot Aedal An Prot&t, 1967,
lor exampl€,and ev€n bulkisr Gyin a kindol intuitiveway Butit wasn't
in any way notational"
rostags of 1968 appafenlly relaie lo
I g|h-centurysyslemsot logarilhmic
In anciont Grsok philosophy,
Logos r€ferr€dto lhe logic behind
expansion,or to organicandcryslalline growlh,or p€rhapsev€n to the
th€ conlrollingprinciplein the universeas w€llas the g€niusmanifest
spiralas a tiophysicalsymbolof life
its€lf Not unrillhs buiktingof Spral
in creation But Smithsonsaw many
ol man'setlorlsto order and explain
Jetu in 1g7Odid smithson'susage
b€com9clear€r;thospiralis relaled
theunivers€lhroughsyslemsof logic
lo hisnolionsof enlropyandirr€versias absurdities--analogous
to the
medeivalscholasticargumonlaboul
bilty A spiral vsc-lorsouhflardand
s i mul l aneous lsyhri nk i nw ard--a
lhe numberofangelsthatcoulddancs
shap€that circuilouslyd€tinesitsef
on the head of a pin--syslemsconline and limit, rather that oxplain-by €ntwiningspacewiihoulsealingil
otl Oneentersth€SpiralJettybackconcealmorelhan they r€veal.
Thusthroughthoirinortandstatic
ward in time, b€aring to the letl,
qualilios,the Alogons manifestan
counte.clockwisg,and comss out
lorwardin lime, b€aringto lhe right,
absufdityas well as a corrc€ptual
vi€w,
clockwiss" Coplans,John 'Ihe
entropyb€caus€,,in Smithson's
"thoyabsorbtho viower'sactiv€viApril1974,
AmaiiloRamp,'Atlilorum,
sion and yi€ld nolhingin relurn€xPp 37
cept th€ir own emptiness' They
'emptyvisionol meaning;lh€y dully 37 Bierman
app€arlo b€ logicalbut in lacl contlale logic, rend€ringil illogicaland 38 Smilhson,Rob€ltl.' TheEliminatoL"
m€aningless'Hobbs,pp 66-70
1964 Th€Writingsol
Rob€rtSmithson, Ed by NancyHoll, (Nsw York:
36 Wh€nhe lirst€xhibil€dat thoJswish
NewYorkUniversityPross,1979),p
Musoumin New York in 1966in a
207
showcallsd"PrimarySlructurs,"his
work, shown with those of olhsr 39 Smithson. 'Entropy and the New
Monumsnts."Th€Writingsol Robert
Minimalisls,seemd, as on€ critic
puls il, "eccentric,comparedto lhe
Smithson Also s€e A/t/orum,June,
prevalontnotion of ths Minimalisl
1966 He wrole that "lnslead ot
15
rl
16
causingus to rememb€rthepasl lik€
the old monuments,
the new monumenlsseemto causeus to forgelthe
luture Instead of b€ing mads of
naturalmaterials.such as marble.
granite,or other kinds ol rock, the
new monumentsare madeof arlili.
cial malerials,plastic,chrome,and
electriclight Theyare nol builtlot
theag€s,butraiheragainstthe
ages
They are involved in a syslematic
reductionol timedownto fractionsof
seconds,ralherthan in representing
the longspacesol centuries Bolh
pastandfutufeareplacedintoobjecliv€ prosenl This kind ol time has
littlgor no space;it is stationaryand
withoutmov€ment,it is going nowhers.it is anti-Newtonian.
as well
as b€inginstant,and is againsllhe
"
wheelsof the time-clock
(months).
by magazines
by newspapers(weeksanddays),by radioand
ry (days and hours) And at the
gallery proper-.instants!Time is
brought to a condilionthal breaks
down into "abstractobjects' The
isolatedtimeof lhe avant-garde
has
produceditsownunavailablehrstory
or entropy,"SeealsoARTSMaga1966
zine.Novemb€r,
(see
Laler, in "Ultramoderne,"
Writingsand alsoARTSMagazine,
1967),he exSeptember/October,
ploreshisgrowing
awareness
oftime
further "Therearetwotypesoltime,"
he wrote,"organic(Mod€rnist)
ard
crystal i ne(U l trai st), Wi l hi n the
multiboundariss
ol lhe lhinies.that
laceled segmentof lime, we discover premoni ti ons,l abyri nths,
cycles,andrepetitionsthalleadus to
a concreteareaot the intinrte The
'shap€of time,'whenit com€slo the
iscircularandunend.
Ultramoderne.
ing--acilcleot circl€sthatis madsol
"linsar incalculables'
and "interior
distances' The Ultramod€rneouts
one in contaclwith vast distances.
wilh the everreceding square spirals, il projects one into mirrored
surlacesor inlo ascendingand descendingstat€s ol lucidily Walls,
roomsandwindowstakeona venigi.
nous i mmobi l i ty--Ti meengul l s
space"
40 Smithson "Ouasi-lnfinitiss
andthe
Waningot Space" The Writingsof
Rob€rtSmithson "At the turnof the
century a group ot colorlul French
artists banded togetherin order to
getlhejumpon lhe bourgeois
notion
otprogressThisbohemian
brandol
progress graduallydevelopedinlo
what is sometimescalledthe avantgarde Both these notionsof duration are no longerabsolutemod€sof
'time'for anists The avant-garde,
like progress,is based on an ideologicalconsciousness
ol time Time
as ideology has producedmany 41 Smithson 'A Sedimentation
of the
uncenain'arthistories'with
the helo
Mind:EarthProlscts" TheWritings
of themassmedra Arthistories
may
ol Robert Smithson " Steel is a
b€ measurodintimebybooks(ygars),
hard, lough mstal,sugg€stingtho
permanence ol technol ogi c al
values Yel,the moreI lhinkaboul
sleelitself,ctevoidol the technological relinements,lhe more /'ustbecomesthe lundamentalpropertyof
steel In the technologicalmindrusl
evokes a fear of disuse, inactivity,
entropyandruin Whysleelis valued
overrustis a technological
value,nol
an arlisticone " See alsoArttorum,
1968 Smithsonwrites
Septemb€r,
proctechnological
thatby "excluding
esseslrom the makingot arl (sculpture), w9 begin lo discoverother
process€sof a more lundamental
order Thebreakuporf ragmentation
of maner makes one aware ot the
sub-slralaof the Earth belore it is
overlyrelinedby lhe induslry, I have
ollen thoughtaboul non-resistant
oroc€ssesthat would involvetho
actual sedimentation
ot maner or
whatI called'Pulverrzations'
backin
hydration,
1956 Oxidation,
carbonizalion,andsolution(thsmajorprocessesof rockandmineraldisintogration)arelour methodslhatcouldbe
turned tow ard the makrng o f
.ustis
art Burnl-out
oreor slag-like
as basicand primaryas the matgrial
ideolsmeltedfromil Technological
ogy has no senseof trmeotherthan
its immediale'supply
and demand,'
anditslaboratorissfunction
as blinders to lhe rest ol th€ world42 ln an importantinlerviewshonly
beforehisdealhin 1973withAlison
Skyfor OnSlle,a short'livedpublicalion dealingwith Earlh Art and art-
ists, Smithsonlard out turlherhis
vrewson enlropyand how il relaled
hrsart:
"OnthewholeI wouldsayentropy
contradictsthe usual notionof a
mechanistic
world view In other
wordsil's a conditronthat'sirreversil's
ible,
a condrlionlhat's moving
towardsa gradualequilibrium
and
it's suggestedin manyways Perhaos a nice succinctdetinrtron
of
entropy w oul d be H umpty
Dumpty One mighteven say lhe
currentWatergatssituationis an
exampleol entropy You have a
declosedsystemwhichevenlually
lerioralesand stanslo brsakapart
and there'sno way that you can
reallyprecertbacktogether
again il
we considerearlh In termsof geologic lime we end up with what w€
calltluvialentropy Geologyhas its
entropytoo. where everylhingis
graduallywearingdown lt may be
thathumanbeingsarejustditlerenl
lromdinosaurs
ralherthanbetlsr I
propos e a dral ec trcof entropi c
lslandsan
Al
Vestmann
change
wassubmerg€d
in
entirecommunity
black ash€s ll created a kind of
buriedhousesystem lt was quite
inlerestingtorawhile
Youmightsay
that provideda lemporarykind ol
which reminds
buriedarchitecture
me of my own Part ally BurEd Woodshedoutin K€ntSlate,Ohio "
" There
Smithsonwentontosay:
rs an associationwith architecture
and economics,and ii s€ems that
architedsbuildin (an)isolated,
self-
qrntain€d, a-hisloricalway. Thsy
nsvef ssam to allow tof any kind ol
relationshipsoutsid€of lheir grand
plan. And this s€emsto b€ tru€ in
e@nomics too. Economics segrns
lo be isolat€dand s€fi-containedard
conoeiv€d of as cycl€s, so as to
exclrr& lhe whd€ sntrodc p{oc€ss . I
don'tthinkthingsgo in cfclos. I think
thingsiustchang€lromonesituation
to lhe noxt. Thsre'sreallyno retum.
43. Alloway, Lawrenc€ 'Site Inspoclion,' Attforum, February 1976,
pp. 49.55
44. Holt. lettsrto o|ds.
45 Tyrrollint€Mew.
17
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Al Mossand JaniceLessman-Moss
Dr and Mrs Yale palchick
Mr and Mrs.Altenpavlovich
Deannaand James Robband Family
CarolSalus
ElizabethBrainardSandwick
Charl€sand DianeScilliaand Famity
Jack and Kathl€enTotterSmith
Marion J. Watson-Hardy
Dr. Herb€rtL. Zob€l
I
18
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JohnCooperridgr
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Arlsn€S€kely
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FrankD. Susi
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