Theory of Non-Sites, by Robert Smithson (1968) – SOCKS
▻http://socks-studio.com/2014/06/14/theory-of-non-sites-by-robert-smithson-1968
In 1967 Robert Smithson began exploring the industrial areas around New Jersey and, after assisting to dumper trucks excavating tons of earth and rocks, he described them as the equivalent of the monuments of antiquity. The series of “Non-Sites” resulted from the installation in the gallery of gravel, rocks, salt materials collected from specific mines, excavations or quarries, usually contained in boxes of galvanized steel or situated within mirrors formations.
Whereas a “Site” is scattered information, a place you can visit, experience, travel-to, a “Non Site” is a container, an abstract work about contained information. Crucial to the notion of “Non-Sites” was the condition of displacement and the conservation of meaning after the removal to another site.
Le site de l’artiste
▻http://www.robertsmithson.com/essays/provisional.htm