In the late sixties, the American sculptor Robert Smithson denounced galleries as “mausoleums for art”. He began making land art, relishing the opportunity to reconnect with nature and pursue his interest in science and geology. Perhaps his most famous piece of land art is Spiral Jetty, a huge installation at Rozel Point, Great Salt Lake, Utah. It features a 457-metre-long spiral, made by bulldozing material from the lake’s shore into the water. As noted in Phaidon’s 2013 publication Art & Place, “It is a man-made, artistic creation but unlike most gallery art, it lies horizontal and dwarfs the human spectator, who feels that sense of smallness [they might] experience when in the presence of nature’s beauty, or perhaps contemplating the stars.”
