INSTALLATIONS AND THE CONDITIONS OF VISION
THE STRUCTURE OF PHENOMENA : THE PHENOMENON OF STRUCTURE
by
Thomas Austin Sansone
B.A.
Williams College
1975
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree
of
Master of Science
at the
MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
January 1979
)Thomas Austin Sansone 1979
Signature of Author
(1
&.-
Department of Architecture
January 19, 1979
Certified by
Ott o Piene, Professor of Visual Design
Thesis Supervisor
Accepted by MA:
U1
Juri
1
L!BRARES
J
-Nicholas Negroponte, Chairman
Departmental Committee for Graduate Students
TABLE OF CONTENTS
I.
THE CONDITIONS OF VISION
The Structure of Phenomena,: The Phenomenon of Structure
II.
TO SIGHT/SITE
The Genesis of an Installation
III.
CYPHER
Thesis Project Installation exhibited at the Center
for Advanced Visual Studies 15 December 1978 to
2 January 1979
APPENDIX
2
Installations and the Conditions of Vision
The Structure of Phenomena: The Phenomenon of Structure
Thomas Austin Sansone
Submitted to the Department of Architecture on
19 January 1979 in partial fulfillment
of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Science
in Visual Studies.
In the first half of the thesis a basis for the understanding of installations as an art form is
derived from the fundamental processes of perception and the "meaning constituting" capacity of
the mind as described by the philosophical methodology of phenomenology and through the analytic
method of structuralism. A "structure" for visual perception is delineated through the
terminology of phenomenology, and a basis for str$itural models is evidence4through an analysis of
the human experience of visual phenomena. And a model for the "reading" of the nature of installations in contemporary art is developed through these "conditions of vision."
The second half of the essay examines the genesis of an installation exhibited at the Center
for Advanced Visual Studies from 15 December 1978 to 2 January 1979 relating it to both
the structural and phenomenological models developed in the above section and to the philosophical
and formal issues at the base of the aesthetic system developed in Japanese Gardens, and essentially
documents, both visually and conceptually that installation project.
Thesis Supervisor:
Otto Piene, Professor of Visual Design
Director, Center for Advanced Visual Studies
3
I.
The Conditions of Vision
4
Silence has evocative powers
similar to those of darkness;
it is a word toward which
other words proceed and
vibrate. One writes in order
to speak less and less, to
reach the written silence of
memory, that, paradoxically
gives us back the world in its
coded operation, the world of wkich
each of us is the hidden,
irreducible cipher.
Phillipe Sollers
5
world is a synthesis of that
I
internal and external set of
Vision, or more appropriately,
dynamics, and a world view is a
the conditions of vision (which
recognition and a formalization
are our understanding of percep-
of that fundamental dialectic.
tion), is not rooted solely in
What follows, then, is an attempt
the physical; that is, in the
to collect and correlate a cer-
sensory manifestation of pheno-
tain set of ideas and modes of
mena essentially external to us.
expression which have surfaced
Rather, the conditions of vision
in contemporary art and art
are a condition of our own condi-
thinking primarily within the
tioning, and perhaps more impor-
past 10-15 years and which con-
tantly, the conditions of vision
cern themselves with the way we
are an aggregate collection or
"see" the way we see.
sedimentation of all the "sights"
cally, the methodology and much
held collectively and indivi-
of the terminology employed de-
dually in the world of which we
rives from certain branches of
In no
phenomenology (that of Maurice
both partake and create.
Specifi-
small sense the way in which we
Merleau-Ponty and Gaston Bache-
see ourselves, and others and
lard) and structuralism (that of
the world through which we pro-
Jean Piaget, Roland Barthes, and
ceed is part of a mental set
Claude Levi-Strauss) and the link
which is only partly our own, and
between them which is my own un-
largely that of the age in which
derstanding and synthesis of
we come of age.
A vision of the
these two allayed but methodolo6
logically divergent fields of
relations between oneself and the
investigation.
space through which one proceeds
and the age or time in which one
"Did you ever happen to see a
city resembling this one?"
Kublai asked Marco Polo, extending his beringed hand from
beneath the silken canopy of
the imperial barge, to point
to the bridges arching over the
canals, the princely palaces
whose marble doorsteps were
immersed in the water, the
bustle of light craft zigzagging, driven by long oars, the
boats unloading baskets of vegetables at the market squares,
the balconies, platform, domes,
campaniles, island gardens
glowing green in the lagoon's
grayness.
The emperor, accompanied by
his foreign dignitary, was
visiting Kin-Sai, ancient capital of deposed dynasties, the
latest pearl set in the Great
Khan's crown.
"No sire," Marco answered.
"I should never have imagined
a city like this could exist.
The emperor tried to peer
into his eyes. The foreigner
Kublai relowered his gaze.
mained silent the whole day.
After sunset, on the terraces of the palace, Marco Polo
Art in this context can
What I should first like to pro-
exists.
pose then, is the notion of con-
be seen as a code whose decipher-
sidering art as principally an
ing is the activity of specula-
activity, which, like both pheno-
tion (through its perceptual
menology and structural analysis
experience), on the "meaning" of
is an approach, a method of in-
what vast and seamless cultural
vestigating the world and our
"place" in it. I want however
and natural "message" which is
to see that activity as a dia-
it.
the world and our experience of
lectical process responsiVe to
the physical space in which it
Any even cursory survey of ths
is placed, and intellectually
history of art will make it quite
and emotionally reflective of the
clear that art has never had much
ideas and concerns of the age in
of a stable form or formulation
which it exists and communicates.
over time, but rather it has
The real nature of the art "work"
been a contingent entity depen-
is not so much as a thing, the
dent upon context more than con-
object presented to vision, as it
tent to define its "meaning."
is the interface or residue of
It is essentially a strategy for
that activity of investigation in
mediating between man (culture)
which one finds visible, or in-
and the world he lives in (nature)
telligible the distinctions and
and most properly reflects the
7
expounded to the sovreign the
results of his missions. As a
rule the Great Khan concluded
his day savoring these tales
with half-closed eyes until his
first yawn was the signal for
the suite of pages to light the
flames that guided the monarch
to the Pavilion of the August
Slumber. But this time Kublai
seemed unwilling to give in to
weariness. "Tell me another
city," he insisted.
You leave there and
ride for three days between
the northeast and east-bynorthwest winds .
.
. " Marco
resumed saying, enumerating
names and customs and wares of
a great number of lands. His
repertory could be called inexhaustible, but now he was
the one who had to give in.
Dawn had broken when he said:
"Sire, now I have told you
about all the cities I know."
"There is still one of which
you never speak."
Marco Polo bowed his head.
"Venice," the Khan said.
Marco smiled. "What else
do you believe I have been
talking to you about?"
The emperor did not turn a
hair. "And yet I have never
heard you mention that name.
And Polo said: "Every time
I describe a city I am saying
spectacle presented by these two
with Nature, and the way things
constantly changing entities,
are, on a very fundamental level,
which are so bound up in
in the world; it is not the func-
the
constancy of their flux that it
tion of the work to invent an
might be better to speak of them
external or abstract system in
not as things but as "experienc-
order to "explain" it.
es."
Art too,
therefore,
is
Art's
power and meaning for us is
perhaps most aptly described in
essentially in its ability to
terms of being an experience, or
clarify, in the sense of render-
rather as an activity it is
ing visible; and not just in the
'experienced" primarily as a
sense of making things easier to
kind of phenomenological engage-
understand, or reducing the com-
ment which re-engenders, or
plexity or incomprehensibility
points back to our own expe-
of reality.
riences in
our own lives.
It
When used towards
that end, as part of a strategy
re-directs our vision or gives
for mediating between man and the
us fuller access to that which
world (which is what I think art
we already are, or already do;
is, if not always does), then it
that is, how we function cultur-
can be effective and evocative
ally and individually in the
in whatever terms or media it
In
broadest sense of that term.
employs.
It is in this sense
the most compelling works of art
then that art is "phenomenologi-
the image's ability to communi-
cal," in that the heart of its
cate depends upon its very flexi-
matter and meaning is
bility and adaptability, to go
perience, and in the referencing
in
its ex-
8
something about Venice."
"When I ask you about other
cities, I want to hear about
them. And about Venice, when
I ask you about Venice."
"To distinguish other
cities' qualities, I must speak
of a first city that remains
implicit. For me it is
Venice."
"You should then begin each
tale of your travels from the
departure, describing Venice
as it is, all of it, not omitting anything you remember of
it."
The lake's surface was barely wrinkled; the copper reflection of the ancient palace of
the Sung was shattered into
sparkling glints like floating
leaves.
"Memory's images, once they
are fixed in words are erased,"
Polo said.
"Perhaps I am
afraid of losing Venice all at
once, if I speak of it.
Or
perhaps, speaking of other
cities, Ihave already lost it,
little by little."
within which its experiencing
directs one back to the world and
one's place in it.
And because
the ultimate frame of reference
for that experience (as it is for
any experience) is the individual,
art is no single thing or experience but a process; in short,
an engagement with the questioning of one's place and experience
in the world.
The specific locus of our concern
in considering these visual attitudes of the past 15 years or so
however, is in regard to the
nature of "installations" or
"artspaces" as Germano Celant
terms them.
Though
not new to
the history of art, as Celant
points out, the tendency towards
devising an art strategy or
creating an artwork whose form
and ideational structure is intended to comprise the totality
9
of the space in which it
dis-
space in which it is "sited" and
played or placed is a phenomenon
an implicit recognition of the
that has become increasingly more
essential and formative role of
frequent in the post-modern
contingency in vision.
period, and whose efficacy as a
the "artspace" which the installa-
specific art form seems to stem
tion includes "as an integral part
from a particular set of ideas
of the plastic-visual work does
concerning perception and the
not mean partially "decorating"
role of nature and the external
the surfaces or volumes of a
world in the way we see.
The work is not put in a place,
it is that place.
is
Neither
Thus,
given environment with fresco,
purely sculptural per se in form,
mosaic, painting, or sculpture.
nor at all necessarily functional
It means taking on the space in
in any utilitarian sense, the
its entirety in order to give it
installation mediates in an area,
structure or pick out its fea-
as much conceptual as physical,
tures by means of a plastic-
between art and architecture,
visual modification.
and attempts to activate the
I shall be referring to here are
totality of the space in which
not of the type which concentrate
it exists.
on a particular detail while ig-
To the degree that
The works
the experience of the space or
noring the whole; on the contrary
room in which it is placed must
they are consistent with the
be considered as a part of the
shape and structure of the over-
experience of the artwork itself,
all space in question."
there is a dependence upon the
the "conditions" of the space are
uniqueness of each individual
consistently different each time
10
Because
the work is shown, or because the
for revealing that content or
work is built specifically and
reality.
especially for a given space, the
It's an art of uncertainty because instability in general
has become very important. So
the return of Mother Earth is
a revival of a very archaic
sentiment.
form which the work takes is also
This invocation, or insistence
in a perpetual process of trans-
on the insertion of an undiffe-
formation, and for this reason
rentiated or non-abstracted
the nature of such work is
'reality" in the work found
highly
resistant to formalisation, and
perhaps its clearest expression
to a certain extent evades formal
in the large scale "earthworks"
analysis.
This avoidance of for-
executed primarily in the far
malisation is essentially a re-
west and isolated regions of the
jection of "ideals" in either art
country by individuals such as
or life and seeks instead an em-
Michael Heizer and Robert Smith-
bracing of the external world in
son.
a very primal and undifferentiat-
was eloquent and very clear that
ed form with all of its contra-
his intentions in working with
diction and disorder and uncer-
such "raw matter" as the earth
tainty as the starting point for
itself and
any work of art; as it is in fact
such isolated and essentially
for any perception of conscious-
abandoned areas, was very much
ness.
The content of the work
Smithson, in particular,
his choice of
related to the idea of re-estab-
must be, and include, that actu-
lishing contact with a very pri-
ality of the experience of being
mal and fundamental order of the
in the world, and the form must
earth and universe.
be first a "frame" (or means)
tion in seeking this contact is
His asser11
that it is precisely this un-
As the body distinguishes itself
differentiated and unfiltered
from the world through its per-
matter which is at the base of
ceptual awareness of space, the
all "higher" forms of physical
mind constitutes its most funda-
reality, and this undifferen-
mental awareness of self through
tiated state is also the point
temporality.
of departure for the develop-
awareness of the possibility that
ment of consciousness.
to "not be" exists, and that
But no
To "be" is the
matter what the state of evolu-
'reality" is the fulfillment and
tion, the body cannot realise
acting out of that fundamental
itself as a separate and unique
perception.
entity in the world, nor con-
knowing proceeds from that very
sciousness define a self with-
primal awareness of a time that
out the recognition of that
continues on indefinitely before
fundamental field of undiffe-
and after one is, or comes to be.
rentiated matter, and the
Thus the inclusion of the undif-
otherness of the external world
ferentiated or actual time of the
as its "reality."
world, which proceeds with indif-
"is"
One always
in relation to .
.
ference, becomes a necessary
. And
function for the work to reveal,
one's present state or position
is always dependent upon that
perpetual surround of unrefined
matter both inorganic and organic,
and of the past, both
near and distant.
"In reality" all
Thus, this abstraction, presented
simultaneously with reality,
forms for the viewer a durational
perception rooted in observation
and leading to a higher order of
reality. In a closed circuit
video situation one is no longer
and to exist within.
Video, as a
temporal medium naturally embodies a methodology for such
concerns and video installations
in particular served as a locus
12
dealing with images in a
temporally finite nature. The
duration of the image becomes
a property of the room.
for much of the most insightful
work conceived in this vein.
In
is so mysterious as a fact
clearly described, clearly
stated .
.
.
addition to its temporal dispersion the capacity for instantaneous transmission between image
reception and image projection
in video further heightened the
artwork's capacity for contin-
gency by allowing for the spontaneous interaction of the viewer
with the work of art which confronts him.
Similarly, in photography the
direct and emotional reportage
of Robert Frank found its ultimate existential expression in
the seemingly cool neutrality of
stance of photographers such as
Lee Friedlander and Gary Winogrand who sought to impose no
order or constructions between
Photography is about facts. I
believe the event, whatever it
is, is better than any ideas I
Nothing
could have about it.
the world as it is and the unblinking unreflective "eye" of
the camera.
A drive in which
13
the idea was to allow the most
that throughout the arts there
complete expression of the way
can be found a re-emergence of a
the world on its
profound respect and humility be-
own terms and not in the terms
fore Nature, and a growing aware-
of the artist's own ideals or
ness of the limits of human ra-
imagination.
tionalism to explain it, and a
things look in
greater skepticism concerning the
It is not my intention, nor
capacity of scientific technology
here
and positivist thought to improve
is
it
possible to list
This "new" awareness
all the ways in which this atti-
upon it.
tude towards allowing the pre-
and its resultant expression is
sence of the world, or reality,
very clearly related to one of
unselected and un-refined in
the fundamental tenets of the
aesthetic terms by the artist,
to enter into the work of art.
What the above paragraphs indicate however, is the rather remarkable scope and degree of pervasiveness across a multiplicity
of disciplines with which that
attitude held through the mid
sixties and into the seventies.
Phenomenology is neither a
science of objects nor a science of the subject; it is a
science of experience. Intentionality likewise has a
double merit: 1) to explode
idealism by projecting consciousness towards the world,
by placing it in the world,
and 2) to assure the connection
between contingent lived experience and the necessary meaning of this lived experience.
phenomenological method; namely,
that the experience of the world
is the "essence" of being.
Phe-
nomenology is not a philosophy
of "ideals" and the only transcendent which can emerge is that
of the subjective intentionality
in the experience of being in
the world.
At the base of these different
manifestations of the same atti-
Perhaps what is most significant
tude lies the unifying notion
about this "existentiel" ideal
14
In my work as a whole structure
constitutes a set of directions
for a performance, that is,
structure is structuring. In
the past I have used the concept of the necessary structure and the contingent event.
The contingent event refers to
a set of responses generated
by a particular structure.
at the core of the phenomenologi-
cusses a series of installation
cal method in terms of installa-
works executed at P.S. 1
tions is that it encourages or
summer of 1976 which avail them-
supports the notion of accepting
selves of just such a structural
the unexpected, or the contingen-
strategy.
cies of the situation, and work-
question is a series of small
ing with, rather than fighting
painted panels by Lucio Pozzi
against the impure "givens" of
which were attached to the wall
the space in which the work is
at those junctures where the
placed.
pre-existing paint of the wall
Any work of art, or for
in the
The specific work in
that matter any physical or men-
was divided into two separate
tal construct, which has form
colours, perhaps for the purpose
(and all conceivable expressions
of directional clarity or what-
must have some form to be ex-
ever function, aesthetic or
pressed) inevitably "structures"
otherwise, it held for the ori-
the way in which one sees.
ginal school.
But
Not only did
there are those structures which
Pozzi's panels match the wall
also allow for the contingent
colour to the point of near
event, and those which accept
indistinguishability but its
that given and fundamental real-
internal divisional structure
ity as a model for their own in-
also matched the exact line of
ternal construction.
In a fasci-
division already existent on the
In short the painting was
nating article entitled "Notes on
wall.
the Index: Seventies Art in
as near an exact replication of
America," Rosalind Krauss dis-
the physical form of the wall as
15
also that which serves as "con-
one could imagine without sim-
veritable fabrication of a world
ply repainting the same wall.
which resembles the first
What was shocking about the
not in order to copy it but to
juxtaposition of panels to the
render it intelligible.
wall was their near invisibi-
one might say that structuralism
rooted in the world with which
is essentially an activity of
it forms a co-existent bond, and
notice them; however once one
imitation which is also why there
serves in fact as a revelation
did it directed one's attention
is, strictly speaking, no tech-
or reminder of what is 'already
back to the wall itself, and
nical difference between struc-
there.'
for me at least, forced one to
turalism as an intellectual
of his panels is divided, that
reconsider the wall in aesthe-
activity on the one hand and
partition can only be understood
tic terms previously unthought
literature in particular, and
as a transfer or impression of
art in general on the other: both
the features of a natural conti-
kind of mimesis, but one which
derive from a mimesis, based not
nuum onto the surface of the
I think is best explained in
on the analogy of substances (as
painting.
the terms of structuralist
in so called realist art) but on
whole functions to point to the
the analogy of functions (what
natural continuum, the way the
from an essay by Roland Barthes
2
Levi-Strauss calls homology)."
word this accompanied by a point-
entitled "The Structuralist
Yet it is precisely the photo-
ing gesture isolates a piece of
graphic process which serves as
the real world and fills itself
must speak of a structuralist
a model for such works of impli-
with a meaning by becoming, for
activity: creation or reflec-
cative structure.
tion are not, here, an original
clearly, the impress of the world
of a natural event. . . . Paint-
'impression' of the world
which surrounds them, which fills
ings are understood then as
and structures their form and is
shifters, empty signs (like the
lity.
of.
It was very easy not to
This is indeed a curious
analysis.
Activity":
The following is
We see then why we
(which a photograph is)
but a
one,
Hence
It is, very
tent" for the higher order of
their artistic meaning.
As
Krauss points out, such work is
"If the surface of one
The painting as a
that moment, the transitory label
16
word this) that are filled with
event" takes shape.
meaning only when physically
the "contingent event" is
juxtaposed with an external
unpredictable but constantly
referent or object."3
intruding force of the world,
Needless
Essentially
the
to say, Pozzi's work would be
the perpetual implosion of the
meaningless outside of its
external into the internal
given context at P.S. 1
through the process of percep-
.
tion.
The "mystery" of such
Not all installations are so
work is rooted in this natural
directly and rigidly tied to
occurence; it is neither in-
the space in which they exist
stalled in it, nor planned, it is
but the point which Pozzi's
allowed to happen by the creation
work so forcefully makes is
of a non-specific (in meaning)
that intervention and/or a
but highly evocative set of
radical changing of the space
structures.
Again Barthes ex-
not the issue at stake in
presses what this "new" attitude
art of this nature, but rather,
toward the "meaning" of the work
that acceptance of it is.
entails in terms of modern poet-
Meaning is called forth by a
ry:
revealing of the space not a
relations between thought and
re-creation or alteration of
language are reversed; in classi-
is
"Furthermore, the alleged
And it is within this
cal art, a ready made thought
context that the notion of the
generates an utterance which
"contingent event" takes shape.
"texpresses" or "translates" it.
Essentially the "contingent
Classical thought is devoid of
it.
17
duration, classical poetry has it
only in such degree as it is
necessary to its technical
Architecture, rooted in the
Greek verb "tikto," is never,
by this reading a mere shaping
of space, but a producing that
brings something forth . . .
to make something appear within
what is present.
arrangement.
In modern poetics,
on the contrary, words produce
a kind of formal continuum from
which there gradually emanates
an intellectual or an emotional
density which would have been
impossible without them; speech
is then the solidified time of a
more spiritual gestation, during
which the "thought" is prepared,
installed little by little by the
contingency of words.
This ver-
bal luck which will bring down
a ripe fruit of a meaning, presupposes therefore a poetic time
which is
no longer that of a
"fabrication" but that of a possible adventure, the meeting
point of a sign and an intention."
One of the major results of this
18
. . . the essential newness of
the poetic image poses the
problem of the speaking being s
creativeness. Through this
creativeness the imagining consciousness proves to be very
simply but very purely, an
origin.
notion of an "installed" or
reader and reading is the poetic
revealed message or meaning
art.
rather than an imposed or con-
art he merely provides the con-
structed "thought" is to radical-
ditions which render that expe-
ly shift the focus of constitut-
rience possible.
ing meaning back from the work
in
itself onto the viewer.
in New York, Marcel Duchamp lite-
Meaning
The artist does not create
For example,
the 1942 Surrealist Exhibition
develops through one's interac-
rally encased the entire gallery
tion with the work, and it is
and the paintings within it in a
precisely that involvement on
complex web of almost impenetra-
the part of the viewer that is
ble and criss crossing ropes
necessary for the work to
physically making the effort to
'exist."
see a struggle.
Again there is
an
"What interested
analogy to literature in general
(Duchamp) in the Surrealist exhi-
and particularly to the "nouveau
bitions of 1938 and 1942 was not
roman," a form of prose writing
so much the given space, full of
which was developing in
objects and pictures, but the
"5
This "reference to
visitors.
France
essentially throughout the early
sixties.
In both cases the bur-
the user of the field" by Duchamp
den of value (or meaning) is
is also evidence of the degree of
shifted from the object--from
shifting in sensibility away from
the text or construction--to the
the object as the primary element
process of the reader's or
of the viewer's attention on to
spectator's engagement with it.
the process of his interaction
"Creation" is a function of the
with it, an activity which can
19
only be enacted over time.
commitment engendered and necessitated in the process of viewing
Robert Smithson's large scale
or experiencing a great deal of
earthwork the "Spiral Jetty"
modern sculpture
has frequently been described
one such as the "Spiral Jetty"
by himself and others as
is that of a slowed or greatly
''a moment to moment passage
through space and time."
What
is essential in that description is the choice of the words
"moment to moment."
If as
Finally, much of the obligation
to "vitalize" sculpture--to make
it come to life before the viewer
--has been shifted to the viewer's capacity for analysing his
private methods of seeing.
and certainly
extended time sense.
This slowed
or extended time of the work
which facilitates insight through
sight, essentially seeks to clarify vision in experience by focus-
Krauss claims, modern sculpture
ing the viewers attention on his
is
own processes of seeing; as a
obsessed with this idea
of "passage" it is necessary
strategy it finds a remarkable
to see that "passage" as a
parallel in the notion of the
function of a "process"; spe-
"eidetic" or "phenomenological
cifically, of the time involved
reduction."
in viewing or rather experienc-
an attempt to film in slow motion,
ing the work "in reality."
that which has been, owing to the
"The illusionism of the new
manner in which it is seen in
temporal art reflects and
natural speed, not absolutely
occasions reflection upon the
unseen, but missed, subject to
conditions of knowledge; it
oversight.
facilitates a critical focus
and calmly, to draw closer to
of time."6
And the temporal
"Phenomenology is
It attempts slowly
that original intensity which is
20
not given in appearance, but from
which things and processes do,
8
nevertheless, in turn proceed."
What the nature of this "eidetic
reduction" means in terms of
artwork, and particularly in
terms of installations is that
the art object is reduced in
importance.
Emptied of content,
its primary (though not sole)
function is to serve as a "frame"
for a more in-depth viewing of
the space or the world which
surrounds it and for the human
activity which fills them both.
The first thing to note phenomenologically about perception
is that its objective the phenomenon perceived, is a phenomenon of two primary zones, so
to speak: the focus and the
background.
It may be proposed that the
context, or surrounding, of art
is more potent, more meaningful, more demanding, of an
artist's attention, than the
Through its refocusing or redirecting of our vision, it gives
us greater access not only to our
own particular ways of seeing but
also to that of the world at
large.
Framed in these terms the
traditional concerns of foreground and background, figure
and ground, become meaningless
21
art itself. Put differently,
it's not what the artist touches
that counts most. It's what he
doesn't touch.
as separate entities, but whose
synthesis is integral to vision
at its most fundamental level.
Thus in installations, the surrounding space is not just the
"ideal" location for viewing but
the necessary and fundamental
component of "sight/site."
This inherent dualism in perception with which phenomenology
characterizes vision and which
the eidetic reduction seeks to
resolve, is modelled after and
The paradoxical and profound
result is that what consciousness
intends and recovers without
ceasing is the world of which
it is a part and out of which
all its undertakings (and all
reflexion) come forth.
taken from the fundamental operations of the conscious mind, and
is expressed in the concept of
Very briefly,
Intentionality.
"intentionality" is the belief
that the mind,
or more properly
consciousness, is both constitutive of meaning in the world and
constituted by or dependent upon
the phenomena of the world for
its own meaning.
That is, as
22
the conscious subject turns its
ings and centers everything
attention to .
around itself as meaning-for-
.
.
,
its very
act of attention constitutes a
"meaning"; there is, in short,
no disinterested or objective
. . . a structure can be a
model/metaphor for the world
while at the same time remaining
a thing in the world.
itself." 9
So in the installation
the object or objects and the
space in which they exist are
vision, because the phenomena
interdependent and constitute a
or information received from the
"field" for the "meaning" which
world has meaning only in rela-
they can project--and the viewer
tion to . . .
occupies a privileged point in
,
the sum
of past
phenomena or experiences.
Thus
that it is his intentional pro-
the subject cannot "constitute"
jection of consciousness through
meaning without having recourse
his experience with the work
to those past "meanings" consti-
that activates the meaning or
tuted in consciousness through
possibility for meaning within
its experience of the world.
the work.
"The meaning makes the subject
the viewer as a being both apart
be, and the subject constitutes
from and a part of the work, in
the meaning.
The subject then,
This centrality of
its "meaning" or value is a fact
forms part of the circular
crucial to the nature of instal-
causality, for it is through the
lations as an art form.
other and makes the other mean-
of what we have described here
ingful.
But the subject is a
Much
could also be applied to the
privileged point in the circular
traditional theater, or more
causality for it is, as it were,
cogently to performance art, but
the heart of the whole of mean-
in those engagements, which are
23
also involved with perception
and temporality, the emphasis
is not on the viewer in the explicit manner that it is within
an installation or more generally
within the static arts as a
whole.
In theater and perfor-
mance the "action" is done to
. . . or presented to . . . the
spectator, and is revealed or
"constituted" by the actor/
artist(s) and not solely by his
own isolated intentional acts
of attention to the work and his
Reading is essentially rewriting in terms of one's own
experience, the filling of the
gaps deliberately or unconsciously left by the author.
reactions within it.
In this
sense, then the "essence
of an
installation is the setting up
of a tableau or the construction
of a situation understood as a
"field" for the purpose of the
viewer's mental and physical
involvement within it.
artist is
The
principally and merely
the metteur-en-scene for the
creative act.
24
Physically, what the notion of
this "open field" suggests is a
generally less compressed and
specifically placed object, in
favor of a more extended and
indeterminant structure or system
or structures which are as open
to the space of the room as they
are concerned with opening it.
General properties frequently
include a sparseness and an extended format which tends to
lead the eye or body across and
The importance of space is
heightened in the composition
as it extends, for the interval between parts becomes a
prime element of structure.
Emptiness is endowed here with
structural properties akin to
silence in post-Webern music.
through its elements.
The funda-
mental characteristic however, is
the formulation of a point to
point movement, of an extension
and passage through time and
through the space.
This motion
can be physical or mental.
As
the work "opens" to its surroundings there is a deflating
of the isolation between the
work and the space, and an implicit invitation to see in the
An installation presents us
with a "thought" room and an
"actual" room, and they don't
quite fit. When the spectator
enters, his own "thought" room
is set in conflict with that
which the artist offers. Trying
to sort them out, to say which
is mental, which is real-which is imaged, which
25
work a relationship with the
space as well as simply existing
within it.
is the thing in itself--we become embroiled in a tangle of
philosophical questions.
artist) to provide the basis
for a dialogue between internal
and external dimensions of the
work in terms of its "form,"
and to engender a similar dialogue within the viewerin terms
the subject of the work for
only by looking "out" from ourselves can we envision our own
Functionally, it is
an explicit attempt (by the
is
When mobile points are used,
the artist allows himself to
"1move" the points in order to
create a "field" within a
In other words he
"field."
manipulates the environment
in order to construct inside
it a spatial entity which is
autonomous, thought still tied
to the given field.
"in"ternal position in the
space.
Thus "meaning" does not
reside solely within the confines
of the work, nor is it conferred
solely from without by the
viewer, but rather is synthesized
through their joint interaction.
of the way it structures his
As in perception meanings do not
experience of the work.
always coalesce, congruities are
not always established and facture
Internally,
the dynamics of this
is as much a component of the
dialogue focus around the idea
work's tension as is comprehen-
of a radical dis-location or
sion.
disorientation: in terms of the
world, not everything "means,"
art work, between figure and
and the movement between con-
ground,
andin terms of theview-
In the work, as in the
sciousness and object is neither
er, between subject and object.
entirely constant, consistent nor
The content of the "in"side of
comprehensible.
the piece is, literally, the
tive of the work is not necessa-
"out"side in which it exists.
rily to provide a basis for such
Likewise, for the viewer, the
meaning which can, in any case,
body and one's experience of it
only be constituted within the
But the objec-
26
The very act of perception is
a continual searching for and
interpretation of incoming data
. . . From moment to moment
things shift in and out of
control, from orientation to
disorientation.
viewer's own consciousness; at
best it can only set up a potential domain for the interaction
which leads to such expansion.
Thus the "experience" of the work
is that of a "charged field"*
which is highly evocative though
not deterministic.
And the dyna-
mics of the "forms" or information which it employs do not seek
simply to describe an experience
not to produce one, but rather
The Indians' choice of sites
seemed based on physical needs
--hunting and fishing. Yet a
high degree of abstraction was
always present . . . Truly direct art seems to me to avoid
to go directly beneath experience
and question the very perceptual
mechanisms which render it possible.
The structure of the work
*The term field here should not
be confused with that of the
same terminology as employed in
Gestalt psychology, which is too
restrictive for what is intended
here. The notion of "field" here
is one that is extensive in time
as well as in space, both particular and whole, immediate and
slowly unfolding, in short,
f. . . not simply the arch, but
the stones .
27
the technique of representing
abstractions on a portable surface or through portable objects. The petroglyphs were
embedded in particular sites,
and seemed rooted to necessity.
then serves to reveal its own
internal mechanisms as it points
towards those of our greater
collective experience.
It is
"a structure which is structuring" and thereby rooted below the
work as well as in the work, and
the terms which it employs are
not aesthetic so much as necessary.
Lastly, this notion of seeking
to go directly beneath the
"facts" of empirical reality to
consider a more fundamental
level of experience or consciousness is by no means an activity
uniquely manifested within the
arts.
On the contrary it is the
feature which characterizes the
physical sciences today and
contemporary thought in general.
Since Freud's discovery, or, more
exactly, "revelation" of the
nature and role of the uncon-
28
Not only our memories, but the
things we have forgotten are
"housed."
.
*
. neither forms nor content
exist per se: in nature as in
mathematics every form is content for "higher" forms and
every content form of what it
"contains."
scious, there has been a steady
In many ways it is within the
and persistent drive to investi-
disciplines of phenomenology and
gate the aspects of human acti-
structuralism that this investi-
vity at a level below that of the
gation of the pre-conscious func-
conscious mind.
tions of perception and of mind
From the lite-
rary concerns of Joyce's Ulysses
have been most radically con-
and Proust's Remembrance of
fronted, and explained.
Things Past to certain features
menology essentially seeks to
of Einstein's theory of relativi-
describe the structure of our
ty there has been a consistent
perception and integration of
and pronounced shift of focus
phenomena in the subjective con-
away from "events," and away from
sciousness.
the description of physical
do so by focussing on the very
matter, towards an exploration
lowest level of our conscious
of the moments between events
experience.
and the relations between things
a philosophy, "is a rigorous
in physical reality.
science in the sense that is an
As a method,
Pheno-
And it attempts to
Phenomenology, as
this particularly contemporary
investigation of the most
sensibility tends toward an
radical, fundamental, primitive,
analysis of the transitions be-
original evidences of conscious
tween things; that is, on the
experiences; it goes beneath the
process of their unfolding, and
constructions of science and
acknowledges the depth of our
common sense towards their foun-
own hidden nature at the same
dations in experience.
time that it pronounces upon it.
dies what all the particular
It stu29
sciences take for granted and
whether reflexive or poetic,
has an anthropological value,
what we in "natural" everyday
is to reconstruct an "object"
in that it is man himself, his
experience take for granted.
in such a way as to manifest
history, his situation, his free-
A "presuppositionless" philo-
thereby the rules of functioning
dom, and the very resistance
sophy is one which will reach
(the "functions") of this object.
which nature offers to his
what is absolutely primary or
Structure is therefore a simul-
mind.'
"9 acrum of the object, but a dimost fundamental in experience.
0
Structuralism then, in
its "reconstruction" of the
Thus, phenomenology is the
rected interested simulacrum,
material world seeks to eluci-
science which best describes
since the imitated object makes
date the fundamental mechanics
the internal mechanisms of
something appear which remained
of thought or more precisely
perception in the individual
invisible, or if one prefers
the operational laws of the mind,
unintelligible in the natural
and its focus is thereby more
Structural man takes
properly in the domain of the
consciousness.
Structuralism,
on the other hand, posits that
object.
beneath individual experience
the real and decomposes it, then
collective unconscious, or pre-
there is a fundamental "human"
recomposes it; this appears to
conscious.
mechanism or nature which
be little enough . .
governs or "structures" our
another point of view this "lit-
In attempting to follow this
epistemological understanding
tle enough" is decisive: for
rather torturous and circuitous
of the world and ourselves.
between the two objects, or two
path between art, and specifi-
In its analysis, structuralism
tenses of structuralist activity
cally the form of installations,
basically seeks to shed light
there occurs something new, and
and phenomenology and structural-
on the specifically human pro-
what is new is nothing less than
ism one proceeds only to become
cess by which we, as men, give
the generally intelligible: the
lost in a thicket of language,
simulacrum is intellect added
and intellectual justice is done
meaning to things.
"The goal
of all structuralist activity
to the object,
. Yet -from
and this addition
to none of the three.
The reason
30
for such a method however, lies
in the evocative notion that
only in the experience of art
does a synthesis between the
individual/external focus of
phenomenology and the collective/internal analysis of
structuralism coalesce.
In its
own internal dynamics, the
installation as a contemporary
art form points to the structure of phenomena at one and
the same time as it derives
a vocabulary modelled upon the
phenomenon of structure, and
creates a reality of that
singular experience which mirrors that of experience itself.
At the level of the poetic
image, the duality of the subject and object is iridescent,
shimmering, unceasingly active
in its inversions.
31
II.
To Sight/Site
32
The experience of these quietly
flowing spaces goes deeper,
suggesting that man saw himself
and his creations as a normal
extension of nature, as part of
it--not in fear of and resisting
its forces, or enclosing himself
to gain an illusory sense of
security, but in harmony with
them, thus opening himself more
and more, becoming one with
nature's forms and spaces to a
degree of being able to convey
to us, in his own forms and
spaces, the practical non-existence of the distinction
between inner and outer space.
After all where is the inside or
outside of nature?
Gunter Nitschke
33
II
Through the late winter and early
spring of 1978 my work was
involved
in three principal
areas which seemed frequently
to be mutually referential,
though not necessarily related.
These three projects were:
an
essay on the critical writings
of Robert Smithson, entitled
"Writing Art:
Language and
Intent in the Criticism of
Robert Smithson," an installation
project executed in an essentially
empty and abandoned factory space
on the fourth floor of Building
E-40 on the edge of the M.I.T.
34
campus, and a study of the forms
and characteristics of the
Japanese Garden as an architectural and cultural manifestation.
In many ways the experience and
ideas developed through my involvement with these three projects have coalesced to form a
basis both conceptually and formally for many of the ideas behind my most recent installation
work, a project entitled "Cypher,"
and exhibited at the Center for
Advanced Visual studies from 15
December to 2 January of this
What I should like
Kublai: I do not know when you
have had time to visit all the
countries you describe to me.
It seems to me you have never
moved from this garden.
past year.
Polo: Everything I see and do
assumes meaning in a mental space
where the same calm reigns as
here, the same penumbra, the same
silence streaked by the rustling
of leaves. At the moment when
I concentrate and reflect, I find
myself again, always, in this
garden, at this hour of the
were of interest to me in these
to do then, is to rather briefly
and schematically list some of
the issues and concerns that
three projects and to discuss
briefly how their synthesis led
to the "cypher" project.
Before
beginning I should also note that
documentation for both the E-40
35
evening, in your august presence, though I continue, without a moment's pause, moving
up a river green with crocodiles or counting the barrels
of salted fish being lowered
into the hold.
Kublai: I, too, am not sure
I am here, strolling among the
porphyry fountains, listening
to the plashing echo, and
not riding, caked with sweat
and blood, at the head of my
army, conquering the lands you
will have to describe, or cutting off the fingers of the
attackers scaling the walls
of a beseiged fortress.
Polo: Perhaps this garden
exists only in the shadow of
our lowered eyelids, and we
have never stopped: you from
raising dust on the fields of
battle; and I, from bargaining
for sacks of pepper in distant
bazaars. But each time we
half-close our eyes, in the
midst of the dim and throng,
we are allowed to withdraw
here, dressed in silk kimonas,
to ponder what we are seeing
and living, to draw conclusions, to contemplate from a
distance.
installation and the "Cypher"
project are included in the
Photographic Appendix: plates
1-4 are of the E-40 installation,
nos. 5-9 are of "Cypher."
My principal interest within the
essay on Smithson was centered
on his writing, or more specifically, on the place his writing
held with and within his work as
a whole.
In most cases an
artists' writings serve as the
locus for a more formal definition or explication of the
thought which motivates their
visual work.
In this sense it
is an "after-thought," a concretion or expression which follows
the initial or principal expression of their visual work.
This
was not so true in the case of
Smithson, however, for there was
a very real effort in most of
his writing to radically go
36
Kublai: Perhaps this dialogue
of ours is taking place between
two beggars nicknamed Kublai
Khan and Marco Polo as they
sift through a rubbish heap,
piling up rusted flotsam,
scraps of cloth, wastepaper,
while drunk on the few sips
of bad wine, they see all the
treasure of the East around
them.
beyond the analytic and explana-
Polo: Perhaps all that is left
of the world is a wasteland
covered with rubbish heaps, and
the hanging garden of the Great
Kahn's palace. It is our eyelids that separate them, but
we cannot know which is inside
and which outside.
Essentially he sees art as
tory, and to merge the act of
reading with a more direct analog
of experience, and specifically,
the experience of art.
What
Smithson's conceptions of art
entail are therefore crucial to
an understanding of his "reading."
an activity involved in
the
setting of limits, or defining
a specific and directed set of
limitations to sight--that is,
at its most fundamental level
a "siting" of vision.
What this
set of "limitations" really
means then, is a "limiting" in
the sense of bracketing or referencing of vision.
Aerial art can therefore not
only give limits to "space," but
also the hidden dimensions of
'time" apart from natural duration--an artificial time that
can suggest galactic distance
here on earth. .
.
. It suggests
the infinite in a finite way.
In a sense
this bracketing of vision is a
kind of reduction which, like
the Shoji screens used in traditional Japanese dwellings and
particularly in the tea house,
focuses vision on a specific
37
section of the landscape in
function, but one whose point
order to clarify and heighten
is to limit external vision in
one's perception of the rela-
order to expand mind.
tion between oneself and one's
cal gives rise to the metaphysi-
place within a greater land-
cal.
The physi-
scape beyond the immediate
view.
The idea is that in
What these "limits" demand how-
looking at the world as a whole
ever, is the necessary construc-
the spectacle presented is by
tion of an "object" or a "system"
far too vast and omnipotent
which detaches itself from the
to perceive and the variety and
world in order to render it com-
rate of stimuli received too
municable or visible; in short an
great to correlate.
Smithson
abstraction.
The "limits" of art
draws an analogy to aerial
then, are essentially a system of
photography in which everything
correspondences which are abstrac-
tends to become a meaningless
tions from the world and yet re-
haze due to the fact that there
fer us back to it, without impos-
is simply too much information
ing themselves upon it.
presented to vision to "see."
feature of non-imposition is cri-
But simplifies that condition
tical to Smithson's method, and
by presenting specific points
it is essentially that which is
of reference for the eye and
the determining factor in the
mind to focus or concentrate
selection of materials, and forms
upon, and thought to extrapo-
in the visual work (a structure
late from.
It is a limiting
which is structuring).
The Buddhist sense of place is
most clearly expressed in their
sand and rock gardens, in which
consciousness of space transcends
the forms. The world of desire
of form and non-form is created
only in the mind, here we are
concerned with the void which is
not of rational or analytical
conception, but an existential
experience of one whole being.
The duality of "object" as space
is so perfectly overcome in some
Buddhist gardens that the onlooker
is aware of neither one nor the
other, he is made aware of the
void, the very nature of himself
and the universe.
This
The com38
parison here is to mapping
of thought is the notion of an
systems, or to the mirror.
interpenetration between the form
That is, the correspondences
and the non-form:
are intended to serve as an
sculptural terms between the
empty "frame" or a transparent
object and the space which con-
pane held to sight which re-
tains it (site) in perceptual
directs vision and which sti-
terms, between the viewer and
mulates thought; but because
the thing viewed (sight).
that is, in
transparent or "void" of content itself, forces one back
Contained within this vision
into the world through the
of an ultimate penetrability
focus of one's own imaginative
between the categorical construc-
effort.
tions of the human mind and the
This recourse to an
image of maximum neutrality
undifferentiated formlessness of
and the "void" object is cen-
the world is an acceptance of the
tral to the nature of all
unexpected, and the irrational
Smithson's work and seemingly
and an acknowledgement of the
to his own philosophical
ultimate meaninglessness of those
thought as well.
Obviously,
it is also a concept which
shares a great deal with much
of Eastern philosophy and of
Zen in particular.
What is
crucial to a construction of
this sort and to such a system
Carl Andre's writings bury the
mind under rigorous incantatory
arrangements. Such a method
smothers any reference to anything other than words . . .
The apparent sameness and toneless ordering of Andre's poems
conceals a radical disorientation
of grammar. Paradoxically his
"words" are charged with all the
complication of oxymoron and
distinctions.
For Smithson the
concepts of contingency and the
dialectic between sense and nonsense in the formulation of
"meaning" were things he expressed best and most radically
in his writings.
In particular
39
hyperbole.
Each poem is a
"grave" so to speak for his
metaphors. Semantics are
driven out of his langauge in
order to avoid meaning.
his use of language was artfully
and to stimulate uncertainty
constructed around a careful
rather than vitiate it.
interweaving of a language of
Smithson's writings one fre-
intellectual rigor with the
quently has the sense that the
irrational or ridiculous.
Unorthodoxy of this sort is
much in evidence in the recorded cases of Zen, which are not
fettered by the ordinary rules
of language. By saying that
language in Zendoesnot necessarily follow ordinary usage,
I do not mean that it is an
unlettered or ignorant violation of linguistic rules, but
rather that it transcends
ordinary word usage because of
its non-adherence to the latter
Since the records of Zen cases
abound in such examples, it is
no wonder that those examples
cannot be read--according to
the ordinary rules of language
or logic. This means that
there is present in the Zen
records a rule-transcending
meaning, which emerges where
the regulations have been
broken through.
The
So in
further you advance "in reading"
intention within this internally
the further you seem from the
self-effacing "message" within
'point," endings are mere
the text is that of a radical
beginnings, and the distinction
decomposition of language as a
between subject and object slip
system of logic in favor of a
continually in and out of focus.
non-proscriptive sense of lan-
Within that undifferentiated
guage.
A language which makes
field of expression, the burden
allowance for contingency within
of "meaning" is shifted back onto
its system of signification, and
the reader and the 'arguments
which does not attempt to lead
initiated rest perpetually
one to set conclusions nor to
unresolved.
reduce the difficulties and
contradictions inherent within
The "thought" is never concluded,
it, but rather to create a sort
and remains "incomplete" within
of "force-field" of potential
the text itself--and is thereby
meanings and propulsive thought.
constantly "in transition" towards
It is a reconstruction of lan-
meaning in the mind of the reader,
guage which, in its very struc-
who is literally forced to draw
turing, seeks to initiate mental
his own conclusions.
action rather than conclude it,
carefully constructed "sense" of
40
Thus the
linguistic structure is trans-
ble" and "not there" in the same
ferred into "non-sense" within
physical space and time.
its own system of order, and
work of art can never be expe-
was of great interest to me.
then re-constructed by the
rienced totally, at once, and
materials he chose always seemed
reader's act of intention to
within the same moment, and in
simple and direct and evocative,
it; salvaged not by logic, but
fact is never "completed."
So the
This
Finally, Smithson's choice and
use of materials in all his work
The
and yet because they themselves
total open-endedness of structure
were not the subject of the work,
process of decomposition,
within the work is
nor were they chosen solely for
transference, and re-construc-
anti-Gestalt in its intentions
their aesthetic qualities they
tion in Smithson's writings is
and denies any possibility of
seemed "rooted in a necessity"
essentially the same dynamic
formulating or experiencing the
which was the very structure of
that is at work in his system
"whole" of the work at any one
the work.
given moment.
rocks, instamatic snapshots, and
by imaginative release.
of Sites and Non-sites.
This
The
radically
Rather the object
The mirrors, maps,
essential aspect of both these
or meaning is "installed" slowly
even the earth itself were excep-
works of art, however, is that
and implicitly bit by bit over
tional in their simplicity and
of their internal incompletion.
time.
The non-site refers back-*yto
remarkable resemblance to the
were of ready access within the
site and forward4-beyond site
internal structure of the stroll
world of everyday use.
to pre-history (or the world
garden in which the path leads
economy as means likewise echoed
one on through a succession of
the intentions to which they
does not end within the non-
partial views or glimpses with-
referred, eschewing both compli-
site itself but is also consi-
out ever fully revealing the
cated technology and radical
dered to be both the site, and
whole.
the non-site together, but
time structure which is non-
function.
which are obviously "not visi-
durational.
a highly abstract quality about
as a whole).
The work of "art"
A strategy which bears
Both systems suggest a
commonality.
Materials that
Their
alterations of either form or
Nonetheless there was
41
them and a certain elegance
for the pre-existant order of
and beauty that seemed to
the material world and a desire
emerge from a careful concern
neither to interfere in it, nor
for their presentation.
even to change it.
I
There is,
liked the idea that they were
in this attitude a deep connec-
common objects which, with
tion with the Japanese sense of
relatively little alteration
a veritable humility before
were used to serve aesthetic
Nature and at the same time com-
ends in a very direct and un-
munion with it.
adorned manner.
Even within
his writings this care for
The fundamental characteristic
presentation and clarity of
of the garden form within almost
structure were evinced.
every cultural manifestation of
The
actual physical form of his
it is the spatial/conceptual
articles was frequently of
reading of it as an enclosure;
great visual interest, but
that is, as a space or place
more importantly their layout
removed from the world.
served to "structure," quite
conception also applies to the
literally and physically (i.e.,
Japanese garden, with the added
through the act of reading)
understanding that this remove
the mental action it sought to
from the world is so structured
initiate.
In many ways this
The following examples do not
completely exclude geometry;
they build up on it, use it
when appropriate, transcend it
when it is no longer useful.
This leads to a sense of beauty
dependent on accident and incompleteness, as found in nature.
There is no longer an obvious
use of form, but a unity of
attitude that makes for categories of humanly conceived dynamic and changing structures,
analogous to those visible in
nature.
This
as to give way to a reflection
direct and unrefined restruc-
back upon the world, and is
turing of common elements
intended to re-orient oneself
suggests a fundamental respect
through the contemplation of
42
natural form and order a fuller
awareness of one's place in
Nature and in the world.
The
Japanese conception of the garden is also characterized by a
profound respect held for
nature, and the understanding
that true insight and true
primary being, but the foundation of being; philosophy is not
the reflection of a more primary
truth, but like art, the
realization of a truth . . .
the philosopher's approach to
the world cannot be that of the
objective scientist seeking to
dominate, but rather that of
the lover engaged in dialogue.
For him philosophizing is a
relearning to see the world.
beauty must be based on the
fundamental principles of order
inherent in Nature.
The role of
the garden designer is essentially that of revealing the essence of Nature, and not with
the construction of a new order.
The garden, then, is a space in
which nature is revealed in a
limited way to give rise to a
fuller vision of Nature as a
whole.
Essential to this under-
standing, however, is what the
Japanese conception of "space"
entails.
For, "Japan's history
does not include any development
The phenemenological world is
not the explicitation of a more
of science in the Western sense,
43
or related spatial concepts.
imagination of the human who
inescapably engaged in a process
Space was never understood as
experiences these elements."
of transition.
In this sense then the garden
which is always en route to
concludes rather from their
is not primarily a space of
someplace else, and which under-
best architecture that space
enclosure but a "place" for
lies the fundamental instability
as an entity does not exist at
reflection and a method for
of all things.
all.
looking deeply into mind.
a physical factor
. .
. One
The Japanese sense of
It is
It is a motion
This conception
of movement is carried into the
space is 'ma,' best described
an artificial remove in which
garden place primarily through
as a consciousness of place
one contemplates "ma,"
the formulation of "paths," and
. . . (perhaps) the English
nature of space.
word place could be used to
internal dynamic of the subjec-
river and water forms.
imply the simultaneous aware-
tive consciousness contained in
in the Japanese garden do not
ness of the intellectual con-
the Japanese sense of place gives
serve primarily or exclusively
cepts form and non-form, object
rise to an external form in the
as physical conduits; many are
gardens which can best be
never meant to be followed,
described as a network of transi-
many are not reachable or
way we can get a bit nearer
tional or progressive "sign
attainable from the viewer's
to the Japanese concept of
spaces."
actual physical positioning and
and space,
coupled with sub-
jective experience.
In this
or the
Thus the
to some extent, by the dry rock
Paths
many paths contain more than
space which (can be referred
This sense of "movement" in the
one path within their direction-
Japanese garden is also a physi-
ality of route.
ese sense of ma is not some-
cal concept which takes shape
all these paths is not conpletion,
thing that is created by com-
from a more or less metaphysical
nor arrival at a specific desti-
positional elements; it is the
vision of the world, and all
nation, but propulsion or trans-
thing that takes place in the
things in it as constantly and
port from a present state or
to) as a sense of place, or
simply 'ma.'
So--this Japan-
The nature of
44
"place" to another.
The dynamic nature of Taoist
and Zen philosophies laid more
stress upon the process through
which perfection was sought
than upon perfection itself.
True beauty could be discovered
only by one who mentally completed the incomplete.
Many of the
mentally, by a succession of
paths are intended for sight
partial glimpses over time.
alone, and their function is
one "follows" the paths of entry
primarily to engender transpor-
into the garden complex.
tation in the imagination or
"whole" garden and the "complete"
mind of the onlooker.
view are continually witheld and
Perhaps
As
The
it goes without saying that
reduced by their incompletion
resolution of the paths' destina-
in order to prolong the time
tion is not important, but rather
of their experiencing and heighten
their "completion" is
the effect of their spatial arti-
enacted by
the role of the viewer.
incompletion
Thus
of vision is one
culation.
This principle of
reduction for the purpose of
of the fundamental elements of
heightening effect is called
forms and their arrangement in
SASHIAI or "mutual interference"
the Japanese garden.
and finds expression in many
aspects of Japanese art and life.
This incompletion of form in
The most obvious case is that
the garden is primarily suggested
of the art of BONSAI, but it is
through the creation of sequen-
also evident for example, in
tial views, or sequencing, which
culinary habits in which a great
also implies instability and
variety of dishes and tastes,
motion.
though
The revelation of form,
of limited quantity,
The
or more precisely of "views" in
are presented to taste.
the garden is never immediate
purpose foreseen in all of these
but installed, slowly and incre-
reductions is to engender MITATE,
45
the garden form to consider the
or a "new way of seeing."
'seven Zen characteristics,"
Although, the Japanese garden
necessary for aesthetic release.
as a form, pre-dated the intro-
They are as follows:
duction of Buddhist philosophy
1.
Asymmetry
from China, this sense of ex-
2.
Simplicity
panding vision is at the very
3.
Austere Sublimity (or Lofty
Dryness)
foundation of Zen thought.
Likewise, Zen is a philosophy
4.
Naturalness
which originated outside of
5.
Subtle Profundity (or Bright
Darkness)
Japan, but found its fullest
flower of expression in
6.
Freedom from Attachment
Japanese thought and life:
7.
Tranquility
just as it virtually took over
Asymmetry is characterized by
as the dominant system of
Irregularity here is deformation
the notion of informality, someIt
metaphysics in Japan, it was
thing free and free-formed.
also taken over and infused
is a form which denies hierarchies
with the very nature of Japan
within it and which contains both
and of the Japanese mind.
the perfect and the imperfect.
Thus in a very fundamental way
Simplicity means sparse, or
Zen is of the essence of Japanese thought as Japanese thought
is at the essence of Zen.
So
it is useful or rather, necessary in trying to understand
intense color, being a
specific element, detaches itself
from the whole of the work . . .
. . . simplicity as the negation
of clutter may be spoken of as
"boundless "--nothing limiting.
uncluttered, unobtrusive in
colour, and diversity is avoided.
It embodies a search for the
essence of things and reduces
all things to a single clear
46
instant or instance.
Austere Sublimity or lofty dryness embodies the concept of
being seasoned, of great age.
Within austere sublimity there
is a disappearance of the sensuous and a penetration to the
essence of the form.
Kill the Buddha!
Patriarch! . . .
Kill the
Naturalness means not-artificial,
but it is always the result of
a creative act or intent so
If it resembles something it
would no longer b% the whole.
concentrated that there is no
separation between one and the
object being formed.
It is an
immersion of the subject in
the
object and the form in non-form:
when there is no separation
between the two the union is
"natural."
Subtle Profundity or bright
darkness operates by implication
rather than direct exposure, it
expresses a massive stability.
Its principle characteristic
is the containment of a calm
47
darkness, in which things are
the concepts which lie behind
indistinct, yet alive and
them are in many ways the intel-
"bright."
lectual formalization or the
Freedom from Attachment means
externalization of qualities
unconstrained in action, and
which are in actuality one with
not adhering to rules or regu-
the forms that express them.
lations.
Somehow it seems ironic that in
It finds its fullest
expression in the idea of
order to discuss those elemental
mastering the craft and then
forms and specific qualities of
forgetting it in order to
the Japanese aesthetic, one is
express it.
forced to first
Tranquility expresses a quiet
sort of intellectual and linguis-
calm, and is a result of being
tic circumambulation we have
inwardly oriented.
submit to the
developed thus far.
It is
It is, in
characterized by the concept
fact, a translation of those
of "rest amidst motion."
forms of essential simplicity
These characteristics carry
and directness into a complexity
over in some form and in vari-
and obscurity.
ous manifestations throughout
who "discovered Newton through
all the arts of Japan and
Einstein and the pendulum through
infuse them with a sense of
the transistor" it is the order
spirituality which is endemic
which seems reversed, and the
to their very nature.
understanding perhaps overly
These characteristics, like
Art works out of the inexplicable.
Contrary to affirmations of
nature, art is inclined to
articulated.
Like the Japanese
What I am driving
at is that while the concepts
48
semblance and masks, it flourishes on discrepancy. .
.
.
Judgements and opinions in the
area of art are doubtful murmurs in mental mud. Only
appearances are fertile; they
are gateways to the primordial.
and ideas within Zen and those
number of specific elements which
embodied within the Japanese
seem to me to bear some connec-
garden aesthetic are stimulat-
tion both with the E-40 piece
ing and rich in connection with
and its more complete resolution
those formulated by Smithson,
in the Cypher project.
and are clearly related to the
phenomenological and structural
models developed in
the first
We have already spoken of the
principle of SASHIAI or "mutual
section of this paper, they are
interference" in relation to the
still, nonetheless, an after-
formulation of "partial views"
thought and an attempt to stra-
or sequential glimpses presented
tify and rationalize an experi-
to the viewer as the moves through
ence which is, by nature elusive
the garden complex.
and mysterious.
In short, it
Though not
specifically of the same reduc-
was primarily in the act of
tive nature the YOGOSEKI or
looking at the gardens and the
"bound rock" (see figure a) which
specific forms and objects which
usually appears at or near the
comprised them that a rich field
entrance to a garden, is an ele-
of visual stimuli and associa-
ment which bears strong ideation-
tions with my own work,
in both
al connection with the "framed"
conceptual and formal terms,
and "bound" (by the black paint)
began to develop and found some
fluorescent tubes of the E-40
expression within the E-40
piece (see photos 1-4 in appen-
installation piece.
The follow-
ing then are a small, but select,
dix).
The YOGOSEKI is mystically
thought to contain the spirit
49
L
III
I
i
I
I
lii
I1~LA~
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
III
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
liii
I
I
I
I
LL.
b
50
of the temple within the garden,
very simple way it "abstracts"
manner to the YOGOSEKI form, it
but its more immediate and
that rock from the total environ-
seems significant to me now that
specific purpose is to serve
ment, signals it out for special
from the beginning I have re-
as a kind of indication or
attention and yet does so with-
ferred to them as instances of
indexical sign which announces
out altering or changing its
"bound" light.
to the viewer that he is
fundamental "rock"ness.
their function does hear some
entering the garden complex.
YOGOSEKI it should be noted are
resemblance to that of the "bound
But this announcement is more
much less formal in their arrange-
rock."
than simply a boundary limit;
ment than that pictured here,
fundamental design of the tubes
rather, it indicates, or
with the rope "bind" very loosely
--they are still recognizable
reminds the viewer that what
and casually draped over the
as common fluorescent tubes with
rock.
all the necessary wiring mechan-
he is
about to enter is
not
Most
There is, for me, a
And in fact,
Without changing the
nature but a human and purpose-
complementarity between the
isms and fixtures virtually
ful reconstruction of its es-
function of the rope in the
unchanged and intact--the blacked
"bound rock" form and the black
out sections simply reduce the
structural terms it is an indi-
paint which covers the fluores-
issuance of light emitted and
cation of intellect added to
cent tubes in both the E-40
tend to focus one's attention
the object: in strictly visual
installation and the Cypher
back in to the internal mechan-
terms it is not an alteration
project,
of the rock as an object, but
light everywhere but in
sential forms and orders.
In
and "binds" their
the two
ics of the light itself, and onto
the photoelectric "essence" of
It reduces the
narrow slits left exposed appro-
its luminosity.
or circumscribing it, of mark-
ximately one third of the dis-
total illuminating capacity of
ing it off for the purpose of
tance from the end of each tube.
the lighting system in order to
revealing or pointing to its
Although not my intention to
render the "light" itself visi-
consciously respond in such a
ble.
rather is
essence.
a means of "framing"
In a very human and
51
The shoji screens, the thin
duces one's own specific frame
The industrial design windows
rice paper and wood louvers,
of reference.
of the former factory space
which serve in traditional
(in this case) in order to pro-
that is now E-40 are full hori-
Japanese architecture a
mote reflection.
zontal frames which run the
function somewhere between
screen is reductive of vision
length of the wall between each
that of windows and walls,
in another sense as well;
column set, and vertically
is another element which
that is,
comprise about three-fourths
makes use of visual reduction
and diffuse filtration of light
of the wall plane from floor
to stimulate mental expansion
when closed.
to ceiling.
or imaginative release as well
of rice papaer provide a warm
stacked rows of smaller panes,
as serving a practical purpose.
glow of non-reflective light
and pivot open and shut much like
The shoji works as a set of
within an overall dimness and
a casement window set vertically.
vertically or horizontally
virtual remove from the outside
With the exception of the bottom
sliding panels which can
which produces a sense of quiet
row, which are clear lights,
effectively shut off or open
stillness and inward directed
the individual panes are fitted
up any space for a multiplicity
tranquility.
with a wire-mesh embedded glass
of different functions and
notion and activity of the world
whose surface is stippled, and
is blocked but the evanescence
approximately 1/4" thick.
is characteristic of such a
of its insubstantial warmth and
effect is a drastic reduction of
wall/window panel partially
light are permitted entry.
visibility through the glass
opened to reveal a specific
overall diffuseness and permea-
which, while not entirely opaque,
and limited view of a small
bility of the paper is further
could at best be described as
heightened by the very sharp and
translucent.
the screen "frames" the sight
clean horizontals and verticals
enters then is greatly diffused
exposed, and by so doing re-
of their wood framing devices.
and yet due to the extensive
views.
garden.
The screen in fig. b
Quite literally here
It reduces vision
But the shoji
through its subtle
Its thin sheets
The distracting
The
They are made up of
The
The light which
52
d
53
quantity of wall space given
had been largely, though not to-
but generally to that of the
over to windows, great in vo-
tally, cleared of objects (except
roof structure of the adjacent
lume.
for those electrical connections,
building and nothinObove or
in the pattern of stippling
piping systems and machine parts
below.
in
too large or too difficult to
empty and abandoned space of the
tien- of the -g as) and the fi-
remove) suggested a quality of
roof the only "change" was a
guration of the wire mesh with-
light and its play within the
function of weather and the only
in which, as the windows broke
space very much akin to that of
'activity" that of projection.
and were replaced, apparently
the fixed shoji in rustic and
changed over time with slightly
traditional forms of Japanese
Just as the importance of motion
different patterns of the same
architecture.
in the garden structures flows
style glass replacing the old,
d--and also photo plate 1 for
from the concern of all things
there was a subtle but percep-
comparison of shoji to the win-
being perpetually in transition,
tible differentiation in the
dow structures).
the visual points of connection
colour of light transmitted by
much drawn to the diffuseness of
or interstices between forms and
various panels.
the light transmission in the
spaces is elevated to a level of
ble to sit and simply direct
E-40 space and the foil it pro-
prime concern and given consider-
one's gaze, towards the chang-
vided to the sharp edges of the
able attention.
ing spectacle of light across
wood frames which held the tubes,
transitions" in Japanese gardens
the window surface, especially
but also to the fact that the
are those points at which the
at those times of the day when
single bottom row of clear lights
elements of form and non-form
the sun's light was at an
(panes) of glass "limited" one's
meet and are co-joined.
oblique angle to the window
vision "out" to a very specific
purpose of the edge is not to
plane.
and narrow frame of reference,
mark distinction between elements
dependent upon where you stood,
of different corporal materiality
Also, due to variations
the gklss,
Ond-the-figur-a-
It was possi-
That, and the relative
emptiness of the space, which
(See figures c and
I was very
Within that relatively
The "edge
The
54
e
T
y
55
sand as a substantial element
the room, but also joining them
in relation to the light empha-
together through a dialectic of
variety of expression and means
sizes the insubstantiality of
transition whose resolution is
for enacting this transition-
the light as a thing in itself,
their perceptual irresolution
less transition in the Japanese
but at the same time, by pro-
and interpenetration.
garden forms is as inventive
viding a base for the reflection
and endless as the materials
of that light in "lines" across
Perhaps one of the most obvious
its surface it also stimulates
visual elements of design in the
and renders visible a very sub-
Japanese aesthetic is the inter-
installation the white sand was
stantial and formal (in the
play between horizontals and
intended to serve as a "greyed"
sense of formative) quality of
verticals.
or dark foil to the intense
the light.
white of the light emitted from
floor, by contrast, the sand
repeated units cut by their
reads as essentially insub-
inverse structural forms, certain
as a "whitened" or light con-
stantial, spilling out and over
feelings of expansion or internal
trast to the dark mass of the
the floor surface more like a
co-extension in time and space.
floor and the black "lines"
liquid than a solid, and yet
But on the surface they are
of the fluorescent tubes
as a "positive" form, visually,
simply compelling and elegant
it is etched very clearly and
forms composed of simple and
it served as "negative" space
formally into the floor space.
irregular units artfully joined.
to the light and "positive"
So the sand functions as a kind
(Figures h and i offer some indi-
form to the floor--and through
of mediating device in the E-40
cation of that visual interplay.)
the interconnection of floor
installation, setting off the
and tubes erases that formal
"formal" elements of tubes and
E-40 is essentially a cast con-
frame from the "empty" space of
crete and masonry structure;
but to suggest their inherent
or underlying unity.
they connect.
(See figures e
In the E-40
through g.)
the slits
The
in
themselves.
distinction.
the tubes,
and
Thus as a surround
Similarly, the
In relation to the
There seems to emerge
from within this dynamic of
56
h
57
designed for maximum floor
tention in re-working the space
and light "complexes," with the
loads, it is a two way flat
of the room was not to construct
intention of further accentuating
slab with columns set every
the single fluorescent light and
the visual movement .from floor
25 feet on a square grid
sand installation shown in
to ceiling.
pattern, with mushroom caps
photos 1-4 but rather to create
the ladders nor the incandescent
where the columns meet with
a series of island-like "com-
construction seemed capable of
plexes" which detached themselves
competing with the inherent
to some extent from the space
visual rhythms and complexity of
mately 22,000 square feet, most
and reflected back on that floor
the space itself, nor did they
of it at this time, virtually
to ceiling movement essentially
seem to integrate themselves
empty of forms, but extremely
through the use of light, while
with it in the manner that the
rich in a variety of textures
remaining in a close and low
fluorescent piece began to.
and distinct but subdued
horizontal contact with the
a whole the installation seemed
colours; a residue from its
floor.
service as a carbon paper fac-
similar to that pictured here,
certain rich and unexpected
though somewhat larger, was
integrations among isolated
sive horizontal openness of
built using rouch 6xb lumber
details of the total space.
its space and the large number
and two shades of grey and black
the one hand the scale of the
of columns set at regular
gravel to fill four "bins" into
objects simply did not seem
intervals within it there is
which a series of incandescent
sufficient to detach themselves
a strong visual dynamic between
bulbs, which hung suspended from
from the room in order to render
floor and ceiling, and it was
the ceiling were buried.
my intention to work with that
included were a series of eccen-
Or perhaps the Japanese notion
dynamic in the structures I
tric ladders placed at irregular
of reduction in size as a
intervals between the two sand
necessary requirement for the
the ceiling.
The total area
of the fourth floor is
tory.
approxi-
Because of the exten-
placed there.
My original in-
A second such complex
Also
Yet somehow neither
As
to fail although there were
On
visible their connection with it.
58
Ot
engendering4MITATE or a new
but rather the plethora of
formal, which in a very basic
way of seeing is more univer-
detail already extant within the
way began to define a form and
sally valid in perceptual
space that blocked it.
terms than we in the west would
complexes of tubes, frames and
which became the Cypher project.
lights, and the textures of
The dialectics between form and
case, in both the Japanese
gravel and wood were simultane-
non-form in the perceptual
conception of visual ordering,
ously too complex and too similar
awareness of any object seemed
and in the models developed
to the visual elements already
to dictate the construction of
from phenomenology there is
in the space to separate them-
an object that would resist
a strong imperative which
selves from it and allow the
specific definition as . . . ,
asserts that vision always
eye to focus on any one point
and which would suggest defini-
moves from the contemplation
or form.
of the detail to the whole;
panels installed by Lucio Pozzi
and it is true, in perceptual
at P.S. 1
terms, that the eye acts as a
dealing with spaces of great
doxically, also be a part.
relational scanning device
visual complexity it is generally
What I sought then was a form
constantly shifting its atten-
a form of related or isolated
which would be totally inte-
tion from point to point and
simplicity that will render them
grated with and within the
establishing a composite pic-
most approachable to sight.
space of the room, physically
normally admit.
In either
The
Perhaps, what the
suggest is that in
a formulation for the installation
tion only in relation to that
which it was not; that is, the
space, of which it would, para-
hodling a very tentative posi-
ture of the whole from the sum
Finally, what the experiences
tion within that room and yet
in E-40 suggested, and the
also be very dominant in
simply the size of the room
issues which the Japanese gardens
sense of charging or animating
that rendered the installation
revealed within that work, was
its space.
there inaccessible to vision
a model, both conceptual and
seems to be a universal and
of the relations between those
points.
In E-40, it was not
the
Formally, there
59
fundamental connection between
fundamental element, if not the
"darkness" and "reverberation"
element necessary for the expres-
which was suggested by the
sion of mind into imaginative
blacked out fluorescent tubes
release that is the essence of
in E-40 and which I was
"art's" experience.
interested in exploring further.
In the Zen notion of "darkness"
there exists an association
with a profundity and calmness
that leads to "endless reverberation" or bottomless
expression.
"
. . . By endless
reverberation is meant the incapability of being totally
expressed or exposed, it could
also be characterized by the
word inexhaustibility, implying, not lack of resource, but
the quality of being bottomless."
There is clearly a
This is where the phenomenological doublet of resonances and
repercussions must be sensitized.
The resonances are dispersed
on the different planes of our
life in the world, while the
repercussions invite us to give
greater depth. In the resonance
we hear the poem, in the reverberations we speak it, it is our
own . . . Through this reverberation, by going immediately
beyond all psychology or psychoanalysis, we feel a poetic power
rising naively within us. After
the initial reverberation we are
able to experience resonances,
sentimental repercussions,
reminders of our past. But the
image has touched the depths
before it stirs the surface.
strong connection here with
Smithson's termination of the
state of de-differentiation and
its relation to the experience
of art.
It is, I believe, a
60
III.
Cypher
61
The silence on the floor of my
house is all the questions and
all the answers that have been
known in the world.
Agnes Martin
Immensity is within ourselves.
It is attached to a sort of
expansion of being that life
curbs, and caution arrests,
but which starts again when we
are alone. As soon as we become
motionless we are elsewhere.
Gaston Bachelard
62
mately 18' in length by 14' wide
which completed the circuit
which rose flush from the floor
from each tube end to the ballast.
to a height of approximately
There were six ballasts; one per
12" at its point of contact with
set of two lamps, all ballasts
the wall into which it butt
were "buried" underneath the
ended.
gravel of the slope.
At a level of 3" above
All lamps,
the gravel a row of 12 flourescent
connectors and ballasts were of
tubes 8'
standard manufacturer's
long and about 6"
trade
apart were mounted and rose,
stock, and all 12 lamps ran off
supported by small wooden
the same 110 volt A.C. line.
struts, in line with the slope
of the gravel.
III
Both the floures-
The "mound" itself was constructed
cent tubes and the wooden
of a raked 2x4 frame sheathed
supports were painted flat black,
with 3/8" construction grade ply-
with the tube ends and the
wood and then covered entirely
electrical connectors left
with gravel.
exposed silver.
roughly 1000-1500 lbs. of gravel
Exactly 24"
It required
The installation project
from either end of each tube a
uniformly spread to completely
entitled "Cypher" was executed
1/2" slit of the lamp was left
cover the frame and sides flush
at the Center for Advanced
open, and from which the entire
into the floor.
Visual Studies between the
luminous output of the lamp was
elements which composed the
15th of December 1978 and the
emitted.
mound itself, and a small box
2nd of January 1979.
which interrupted the constant
of momentary contact switches
the work consisted of a low
but gradual rise of the gravel
to start the flourescent tubes,
grey gravel "mound" approxi-
mound or slope were the wires
the room was essentially empty.
Briefly,
The only other element
Other than these
63
Thus the form of the
Yet it was the room itself
space,
which was perhaps the most
mound itself grew out of a con-
crucial element to the expe-
sideration of the room and of
rience of the piece.
its eventual placement within
it, and was equally reflective
As the above description
of the room as its own form and
hopefully makes clear, the
presence reflected upon the
piece itself was constructed
space.
of very few elements and was
essentially very simple in
design and form.
(See photo
The exhibition room at the Center
for Advanced Visual Studies is
plates 5-9 in appendix.)
roughly a square cube, approxi-
There is, in a certain sense,
mately 30'x30' with a partial
not much to talk about as
ceiling on 3 sides of the room
concerns its specific form--
which measures 14' from floor
yet its presence in the space
to ceiling.
engendered a somewhat more
8 & 9.)
complex experience, and its
the room and along the fourth
form was, in fact, built to
wall the ceiling rises dramati-
the dimensions of the room
cally to a height of approxi-
itself, and many of its formal
mately 25-30' at a sharp angle
elements were intended to
where it "peeks" into a series
relate in a very specific
of windows which run the length
manner to the spatial features
of that central opening and act
of this somewhat unusual
as a kind of upright skylight.
Marco Polo describes a bridge,
stone by stone.
"But which is the stone that
supports the bridge?" Kublai Khan
asks.
"The bridge is not supported
by one stone or another," Marco
answers, "but by the line of the
arch that they form.
Kublai Khan remains silent,
"Why
reflecting. Then he adds:
do you speak to me of the stones?
It is only the arch that matters
to me."
"Without stones
Polo answers:
there is no arch."
(See photo plates
In the central core of
64
One of the most interesting
question due to the fact that
of the ceiling opening up the
features of the room itself
such a placement would have
central core of the room and
are the shadows which are
required the viewer to literally
ascending towards an airy light-
cast into the corners where
back into the piece.
the walls and lower half-ceil-
directly opposite to the skylight
of the room itself up from its
ing meet due to the strong
wall (against which the mound
windowless and symmetrically
downward infusion of light
was in fact placed) is effective-
enclosed frame.
from the upper story windows
ly blocked by a supporting pillar, idea that the gravel slope rose
(see photo plate 3) and it is,
That left only the skylight wall,
up from the floor in a similar
in fact, these shadows which
which had the unfortunate problem
manner and the sense that the
determined the angle of incline
of a large radiator casing run-
upward spread of the light from
from the sides of the slope
ning the length of it,
to the floor.
far wall opposite the door (see
be bound by the room, or rather
photo plate 6), which was pro-
the lower half-ceiling which ran
In a rather unusual way each
blematic in that it was not
the length of that far wall.
of the walls is characterized
square to the rest of the room
I also was interested in the way
by some particular feature
but sloped off at an angle of
that the mound "fit" into that
which rendered the placement
approximately 1000 from the far
open slot of the ceiling's remove,
of the mound against it pro-
corner.
The wall
and the
This skewness of angle,
ness seemed to sweep the whole
I liked the
the flourescent tubes would not
and did not like the notion of
however, was not the final rea-
cutting across its central axis
to the entranceway of the room
son for deciding against its
perpendicularly.
is graced with a rather ungain-
placement along that wall.
not interested in presenting a
ly sink which greatly reduces
Rather, the crucial factor was
full view of the piece to the
the available wall space, and
in the spatial dynamic of the
viewer immediately upon entry
was in any event out of the
room itself.
blematic.
The wall closest
The dramatic rise
into the space.
Lastly, I was
It was clear even
65
before it
was built that the
the mound and the wall which
piece would demand a commitment
is, of course, a crucial transi-
of time on the part of the
tion.
viewer to enter into it;
that covering it would have
both
I am not certain however
physically to adjust to the
added greatly to resolving these
low level of light, and mental-
problematic features.
ly to slow oneself to its
above indicates is the nature
level of stasis.
and direction of some of the
A relation-
What the
ship which would be less clear-
decisions which entered into the
ly presented by an immediate
formulation and conception of such
and frontal angle of viewing.
a piece.
Thus I was left with the sky-
to trace some of those issues
light wall and the problem of
and elements which the piece
the radiator which I chose
itself gave rise to.
to resolve by ignoring.
The following attempts
In
retrospect, the radiator
In a review of environmental
seems more problematic and
works constructed at Documenta 5
obtrusive than I had initially
Carter Ratcliff singled out two
realised.
specific works by Bruce Nauman
It produced the
unwelcome function of "center-
and Michael Asher for special
ing" the piece, imparting to
attention.
it a sense of monumentality
them reflects directly on the
which does not seem endemic
to it, and also served to
destroy the juncture between
At its present stage emitted
light best demonstrates one of
the primary qualities of systems:
the tendency to fuse art object
What he says about
use of light in environmental
works and about the nature of
light generally in perceptual and
66
and environment into a perceptual whole.
imaginative terms;
"The reflec-
tive power of the white paint
Asher used relates precisely
to the intensity of the lighting:
the white surfaces have as much
light as they need to reveal
themselves, but no more; dimness
is given its own clarity," and
relates to the idea of centering
and the role of light in developing a sense of body awareness
or personal space.
"As one
edges back and forth in the
space, the walls seem to gather
light from the gallery.
The
interior is diffused with a
soft private glow, relieved
along its curves by faint
shadows.
The ends of the walls
are not visible from the center.
Controlled by my hands, the light
appeared in manifold projections
around entire rooms . . . Feelings of tranquility, suspension
of normal balance and an increased sensation of space were
reactions that viewers volunteered to me after finding themselves in the center of the
event. That their everyday fearful nerv-asity diminished was a
sensual effect that I welcomed.
One is constantly on the move,
finding and refinding the limits
of the space, only to have one's
conception of it undercut by
the ingratiating vagueness
In itself, revery constitutes a
psychic condition that is too
frequently confused with dream.
But when it is a question of
poetic revery . . . one is no
longer drifting into somnolence.
67
of the light and the subtle
curvature of the wall.
Linear
and aerial perspective, tonal
The mind is able to relax, but
in poetic revery the soul keeps
watch, with no tension, calmed
and active.
it frequently gives rise to
imaginative or poetic release.
It seems that physiologically a
and coloristic ambiguity,
reduction of light into dark,
achieve meaning as one moves
but not total obscurity, is one
in the space.
This unifies
of the most conducive or imme-
visual and bodily experience,
diate vehicles for subjective
providing a basis for the con-
phenomenological reduction, or
ceptual grasp of a specific
removal of self from externality
locale."
12
Clearly, there is
to a more inner directed act of
something about light that
attention.
allows us remove into an
of remove or retreat have long
interior region that somehow
been prevalent in the arts
seems important or necessary.
and philosophies of the East,
Obviously, theater has long
and it is not incidental that
made use of light to create
their long involvement with such
or suggest "mood" and there is
processes have resulted in such
ample documentation of man's
schema as meditation and
early attraction and attention
a wide variety of artistic disci-
to the sun and fire--the fun-
plines for the attainment of such
damental elements of warmth and
states of inner attentiveness
light.
There is
a very basic
Such intentional acts
and external remove.
Clearly, in
and primal affinity within the
the west we are becoming increas-
mind to low level incidences
ingly aware of such fundamental
of light, and contact within
relationships with ourselves,
68
and their importance, as the
it seemed to impart to them.
pace of our own flux and that
Although this quality of medita-
of the social environment
tiveness was not overtly my
drastically increases.
intention, it was something
Art is
one of the principal activities
clearly present in the work once
which can genuinely respond to
it was completed and seemed to
such issues today because it
have grown out of the work
is not only reflective of its
itself and to belong to it in
current social position and
a very natural and fundamental
tensions but simultaneously
way.
relates those external concerns
duces this section suggests,
to deep and fundamental areas
there is
of psyche below conscious con-
ness which gives rise to expan-
struction.
sion, and it seems that it is the
As the quote which intro-
something about still-
inherently
So in
mound and its placement in the
the Cypher project there
was something about the quality
of light in its relation to the
forms and materials of the
piece as a whole in the space
that gave rise to an experience
of surprising calm and tranquility.
The recurrent com-
ments of visitors to the work
expressed the sense of serenity
static nature of the
.
.
.
the activity of the surface
implied the interior activity so
that they created an interest in
what you couldn't see.
Because it leans against the wall
the empty space is at eye level-a space for contemplation
.
.
.
. . . the interior space is
physically inaccessible to you,
but it is accessible in that you
can project mentally into it.
room which stimulate such experience.
Both the shape of the
form and the massive physical
weight of the gravel as a material suggest immobility, but
also confer a concealment or a
buried
mystery.
sense of energy and
The mound conceals the
floor from view and also the
69
source of the light's energy;
is also one of reflection . . .
but its more fundamental and
it is a concealment which is
profound mystery or concealment
revelatory, for what it is hiding,
is that of its own internal
is also our own mystery.
rationale or reason for being.
"The greater portion of the
symbol will always remain
unknown, since it contains
within its own essence the
"unknowable"; otherwise extension into space would cease.
The Essence contained in the
essence of the symbol is the
irrational core which provides
the ever expanding element.
This core is the infinity
contained in the symbol and can
never be translated.
This core
is absolutely infinite and
"unknowable."
It extends it-
self through the mind experiencing itself.
It is the
zero representing infinite
extension . . . "
xion which it
The refle-
invites however,
70
.
.
. the brain can be repre-
sented as a rectangular matrix
of at least two (but perhaps
several) dimensions which can
be "read" up and down or side
to side .
.
.
presented by these schematics
. . . it is the logic or oppositions and correlations, exclusions and inclusions, compatibi-
are rooted in the perceptual
lities, which explains the laws
of association, not the reverse.
The "dynamic imbalances" re-
obviously rises upwards yet the
tubes themselves,
and all their
operational mechanisms, wires,
dynamics of the piece itself,
electricity, fixtures and sup-
but are complex because they
ports are clearly rooted down,
form an essentially ambiguous
within the interior space of the
or contradictory field of relationships.
That is, the
light of the fluorescent tubes
The mound form is relatively
resilient in relation to its
surroundings rather than rigid.
Both its perimeter and parameter
are defined by what is not seen
of it as much as by what is seen.
It is an implicative form.
gravel mound, and, hypothetically,
connected to the ground or floor.
Similarly the lines of light which
The mystery of containment with-
in the form elicited by its low
profile and lid-like structure.
71
tubes throw beneath themselves
sensation or a lightness which
seem etched into and absorbed
borders on a certain insubstan-
by the very substance of the
iality.
gravel which reveals and
reflects them--so the light
also contains within itself a
downward or inner directed
movement.
The gravel is also
clearly rooted in the floor
and the heaviness and compression of its
massive substan-
tiality suggests a clear and
obvious demonstration of the
gravity which is at its base.
Yet it too implies a sort of
contradictory movement within
its perceptual field; for the
angle of its slope, the point
of its contact with the vertical element of the wall, and
particularly its low tonal
value and colour relationship
to the rug of the floor and the
off-white of the walls and
ceiling produce a floating
72
The dialectics involved within
through the present towards the
the forms of this piece are
future).
clearly those of horizontality
of the fluorescent tubes, in
and verticality--and it is
counterpoint, suggests a non-
precisely those spatial qualities
durational temporality or a per-
as applied to temporality which
petual present through which the
activate its projection into the
mound slices.
E-4
past
room.
The form reflects the complementary directions of forces in
the overall system in which it
assumes an active part. The
external pressures and currents
accompanying those that radiate
from hidden points within it
are mutually self-evident in
the nature of the form. It is
a form that is constantly becoming, at each moment serving
both as a mirror of its past
and a premonition of its
future.
The relative stability
That is, there is a dual-
ity inherent in the slope of the
Perhaps what is most significant
gravel mound between the vertical
about this equivalent "visual
element of the wall and the
explanation" of such dynamics
horizontal element of the floor.
within the piece, is the finally
One is forced to read the move-
inextricable entangelment and
ment of the gravel plane
interpenetration of the linguis-
as
either rising up from the floor
tic directionals which seek to
to the wall--(a vertical ascent
define it; i.e., of the absolute
that directs itself backwards
arbitrariness of all the "to"'s,
away "from" the room; i.e.,
"from"'s,
from the present receding towards
"backwards"'s and "forwards"'s.
the past) or, spilling out from
For the form which the piece
the wall into the room--(a hori-
takes in relation to space is
zontal spread or flow which
that of "no-form" and the posi-
pushes itself proleptically
tion it occupies temporally is
forward in
"to" the space of the
room; i.e., projecting forwards
"toward"'s,
"out of"'s,
that of "no-time" and yet despite
that fundamental state of indefi73
nition managed to manifest an
lishes a palpable "presence"
aura and a presence which
which extends beyond the strict
clearly defined a "sense of
limits and confines of its
place" both in and of itself
physical form and gives defini-
and for those who viewed it.
tion to space in terms that are
other than strictly mechanistic
This "sense of place" is the
and explicable.
potentiality for the object's
takes on a non-physical presence
"life-in-the-world" and is a
or emanation that is unquestion-
function of tis relation to the
ably "there" and yet insubstan-
space in which it exists, just
tial.
as that same "sense of place"
way you might relate to a sleep-
which interaction with the work
ing person, to the potential
calls forth in the viewer is a
energy that is manifested in a
function of their inter-rela-
dormany state.
tionship.
space much greater than the
For me, it is the
Chance happenings compensate
each other and the "dust of
facts" makes an agglomeration
which forms a design delineating
the human situation in a certain
manner, thus making it possible
for me to see it and to speak
it.
The object
"You relate to them the
You sense a
establishment of this "sense
volume actually used up,' and
of place" through the sight/
a reason more fundamental than
siting of a work of art in the
reason.
space of the world in a manner
which is neither obtrusive nor
overly reticent which is at
the essence of an installation.
When the work is successful,
it succeeds because it estab74
installed view. Cypher
75
APPENDIX
photographs: 1-4
E-40 installation
photographs: 5-9
Cypher project installation
76
77
%.I
79
Pri
4
80
5
81
82
7
83
8
84
85
FOOTNOTES
1.
Celant, Germano, in "Artspaces," Studio International, vol. 190,
Summer 1975, p. 116.
2.
Barthes, Roland, "The Structuralist Activity" in DeGeroge and
DeGeorge, The Structuralists: From Levi-Strauss to Marx.p150
3.
Krauss, Rosalind, "Notes on the Index: Seventies Art in America,
Part 2" in October vol. 3, Spring 1977, p. 64.
4.
Barthes, Roland, Writing Degree Zero, and Elements of Semiology,
Boston, Beacon Press, 1970, p. 43.
5.
Celant, "Artspaces," p. 119.
6.
Michelson, Annette, "Toward Snow," Artforum, vol. 9, June 1971,
p. 27.
7.
Granel, Berard, "Le Sens du Temps et de la Perception chez
Husserl" in Michelson, "Toward Snow," Artforum, p. 27.
8.
Barral, M. Rose, Merleau-Ponty and the Role of the Body-Subject
in Interpersonal Relations, Pittsburgh, Duquesne University,
1965, p. 49-50.
9.
Edie, James in Thevanez, What is Phenomenology, Chicago,
Quadrangle Books, 1962, p. 19.
10. 0p. cit., Barthes, "The Structuralist Activity," p. 149-750.
11. Ibid., p. 131.
12. Ratcliff, Carter, "Adversary Spaces," Artforum, Vol. 11, October
1972. p43-44
86
13. Pereira, I. Rice, The Nature of Space, Washington, Corcoran
Gallery of Art, 196 8 .p51-52.
14. Winsor, Jackie Winsor/Sculpture, Cincinnati, The Contemporary
Arts Center, 1976. pS.
87
MARGINALIA
Italo Calvino, Invisible Cities, New York, Harcourt, Brace,
Jovanovich, 1972.
p. 10:
Smithson, Robert, in
"Discussions with Heizer, Oppenheim,
and Smithson," Avalanche, p. 50.
p. 11:
Smithson, Robert, 2R. cit.,
"Discussions
.
.
.,"
pp. 66, 68.
p. 12-13: Campus, Peter in Peter Campus, catalogue, Everson Museum
of Art, Syracuse, 1974.
p. 13: Winogrand, Gary, in Harbutt, Charles, "In Search of Photography," (lecture series, spring 1978), p. 17.
p. 14: Edie, James in Thevanez, Pierre, What Is Phenomenology,
Chicago, Quadrangle Books, 1962, p. 79.
Ibid., Thevanez, p. 57.
p. 15: Aycock, Alice, "An Essay," in Project Entitled "The Beginnings
of a Complex . . .,"
New York, Lapp Princess Press, 1977.
p. 18: Linker, Kate, "George Trakas and the Syntax of Space,"
Studio International% Artsmagazine, vo. 50, January 1976.
p. 19: Bachelard, Gaston, The Poetics of Space, Boston, Beacon
Press, 1958, p. 44.
p. 20: Burnham, Jack, Beyond Modern Sculpture,
1968, p. 181.
New York, Braziller,
p. 21: Bruzina, Ronald, Logos and Eidos, The Hague, Mouton, 1970,
p. 68.
p. 21-22: Kaprow, Allan, 'The Shape of the Art Environment,"
Artforum, April 1968, p. 33.
88
p. 22:
Thevanez, p. 86,
p. 23:
Ibid., Aycock.
p. 24: Spencer, Michael, "Michel Butor," New York, Twayne Publishers,
Inc., 1974, p. 29.
p. 25: Prokopoff, Stephen S., Between Object and Environment:
Sculpture in an Extended Form," Philadelphia, Institute of
Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania, 1969, p. 6.
p. 25-26: Tagg, John, "In Camera, A Projected Interview on the Work
of Tim Head," Studio International, vol. 190, #976, July-August
1975, p. 57.
p. 26:
.p. cit., Celant, Artspaces, p. /22.
p. 27:
Op. cit., Aycock, "Project
.
p. 27-28: Smithson, Robert, " . . . The Earth Subject to Cataclysms
is a Cruel Master," Artsmagazine, November 1973, p. 39.
p. 29:
Op. cit., Bachelard, "Poetics," p. xxxiii.
p. 29: Piaget, Jean, Structuralism, New York, Harper and Row, 1968,
p. 112.
p. 31:
Op. cit., Bachelard, The Poetics of Space, p. xv.
p. 37: Smithson, Robert, "Aerial Art," Studio International, vol. 175,
no. 89, February/April 1969, p. 180.
p. 38: Nitschke, Gunter, "'Ma,' the Japanese Sense of Place,"
Architectural Design, March 1966, p. 117.
p. 39-40: Smithson, Robert, "A Museum of Language in the Vicinity
of Art," Art International, vol. XXI/3, March 1968, p. 21.
89
p.- 40: Hisamatsu, Shin'ichi, Zen and the Fine Arts, Tokyo,
Kodansha International, 1971, p. 35.
p. 42:
Op.
cit., Nitschke, "'Ma,'
. .
,"
.
p. 117.
p. 43: Merleau-Ponty, Maurice, "The Phenomenology of Perception,"
p. xv, in op. cit., Barral, Merleau Ponty . . . , p. 40.
p. 45: Engel, David H., Japanese Gardens for Today, Rutland, Vt.,
Charles Tuttle and Company, 1959, p. 73.
p. 46:
Op. cit., Hisamatsu, "Zen . .
.
,"
p. 30.
p. 46: Morris, Robert, "Notes in Sculpture, Part II," Artforum,
October 1966, vol. 5.
p. 46:
2R. cit., Hisamatsu, p. 31.
p. 47: Valery, Paul in Smithson, "A Museum of Langauge in the Vicinity of
Art," Art International, Vol. XII, no. 3, March 1968.
p. 47: Op. cit., Hisamatsu, p. 30.
p. 48-49: Smithson, Robert, "Incidents of Mirror Travel in the
Yucatan," Artforum, vol. VIII, no. 1, September, 1969, p. 33.
p. 60:
OR. cit., Bachelard, p. xvi.
p. 62: Martin, Agnes, unpublished notes in Agnes Martin, Philadelphia, Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania,
1973, p. 12.
p. 62:
Op. cit., Bachelard, The Poetics of Space, p. 184.
p. 66-67:
p. 67:
Op.
cit., Burnham, "Beyond Modern Sculpture," p. 285.
Piene in ibid., p. 295-6.
p. 67-68:
Op. cit., Bachelard, p. 54.
90
p. 69: Winsor, Jackie in Jackie Winsor/Sculpture, Cincinnati,
The Contemporary Arts Center, 1976, p. 7.
p. 71: Leach, Edmund, Claude Levi-Strauss, New York, Viking, 1970,
p. 51.
p. 71:
Op. cit., Piaget, Structuralism, p. 109.
p. 71:
p. 73:
Davis, James, "On Mounds," Studio.International, vol. 188,
April 1974, p. 168.
Ibid., p. 168.
p. 74:
Op.
cit., Barral, Merleau-Ponty
.
.
,"
p. 37.
91
ILLUSTRATIONS
p. 50.
p. 53.
p. 55.
p. 57.
fig. a
YOGOSEKI, barrier guardstone.
approach to Shulzo-in.
fig. b
partially opened Shoji, Bosen Tea Room.
Koho-an, Daitolau-ji, Kyoto.
fig. c
Shoji.
fig. d.
Windows.
Traditional Farmhouse.
E-40 installation.
Three Edge Transitions
fig. e
waterway, Moss garden
Saihoji Temple
fig. f
detail: silica sand, frames and floor
E-40 installation
fig. g
composition of three shades and textures.
porch border. Nanzen-ji, Kyoto.
fig. h
bamboo fence.
Maruyama Park, Katsura.
fig. i
detail: fluorescent tube.
E-40 installation
92
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Phenomenology
Bachelard, Gaston.
The Poetics of Space.
Boston, Beacon Press. 1958.
Barral, M. Rose. Merleau-Ponty, The Role of the Body-Subject in
Interpersonal Relations. Pittsburgh, Duquesne University Press.
1965.
Bruzino, Ronald.
Logos and Eidus.
Farlier, Marvin.
Row. 1966.
The Aims of Phenomenology.
The Hague, Mouton.
Husserl, Edmund. The Idea of Phenomenology.
Nyhoff. 1964.
Husserl, Edmund.
The Paris Lectures.
Merleau-Ponty, Maurice.
Thevanez, Pierre.
1970.
New York, Harper and
The Hague, Martinus
The Hague, Martinus Nyhoff. 1964.
The Phenomenology of Perception.
What is Phenomenology?
Chicago, Quadrangle. 1962.
Structuralism
Barthes, Roland.
Image, Music, Text.
Barthes, Roland.
Mythologies.
New York, Hill and Wang.
New York, Hill and Wang,
1977.
1957.
Barthes, Roland. Writing Degree Zero and Elements of Semiology.
Boston, Beacon Press. 1964.
93
Burnham, Jack.
The Structure of Art.
New York, Braziller.
1971.
DeGeorge, R. and DeGeorge F. The Structuralists from Marx to LeviStrauss. Garden City, Doubleday and Company. 1972.
Leach, Edmund.
Piaget, Jean.
Claude Levi-Strauss.
Structuralism.
New York, Viking.
New York, Harper and Row.
1970.
1970.
The Japanese Garden
Asano, Kuchi. Japanese Gardens Revisited.
Tuttle and Company. 1973.
Rutland, Vt., Charles
Engel, David. Japanese Gardens for Today.
Tuttle and Company. 1959.
Rutland, Charles
Hisimatsu, Shin'ichi. Zen and the Fine Arts.
International. 1971.
Tokyo, Kodansha
Ito, Teyi. The Japanese Garden: An Approach to Nature.
Yale University. 1972.
New Haven,
Nishikawa, Takeshi. Formation of Japanese Farm-Houses.
Shokokusha Publishing Company. 1958.
Tokyo,
Nitschke, Gunter. "'Ma,' the Japanese Sense of Place."
Design 36 (March 1966).
Architectural
Slawson, David A. "Some Aesthetic Characteristics of Zen Art in the
(Unpublished paper.) 1971.
Ryoan-ji Rock Garden."
94
General
Aycock, Alice. Project Entitled; "The Beginnings of a Complex
New York, Lapp Princess Press. 1977.
Burnham, Jack.
Beyond Modern Sculpture.
Celant, Germano.
Art Povera.
Krauss,
Rosalind.
Passages.
New York, Braziller.
New York, Praeger.
Korot, Beryl and Schneider, Ira.
Brace, Jovanovich. 1976.
.
Video Art.
.
."
1968.
1969.
New York, Harcourt,
New York, Viking.
1977.
Lippard, Lucy. Six Years: The Dematerialization of the Art Object.
New York, Praeger. 1973.
Pincus-Witten, Robert.
Press. 1977.
Postminimalism.
New York, Out of London
Sondeim, Allan. Individuals: Post Movement Art in America.
York, Dutton. 1977.
Szeeman, Harold, ed.
and Cie. 1969.
Tucker, Marcia.
Art. 1970.
When Attitude Becomes Form.
Robert Morris.
New
Berne, Staempfli
New York, Whitney Museum of American
Catalogues
Agnes Martin, Philadelphia, Institute of Contemporary Art, Uniyesity
of Pennsylvania. 1973.
95
Arttransition.
Cambridge, MIT Press.
1975.
Between Object and Environment. Philadelphia, Institute of
Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania. 1969.
Peter Campus.
Syracuse, Everson Museum of Art.
Robert Irwin.
New York, Whitney Museum of American Art.
Rooms, P.S. 1.
1974.
1977.
New York, Institute for Art and Urban Resources. 1977.
Structures Implicit and Explicit.
Pennsylvania. 1973.
Philadelphia, VIA, University of
Video Art. Philadelphia, Institute of Contemporary Art, University
of Pennsylvania. 1975.
Jackie Winsor/Sculpture.
1976.
Cincinnati, The Contempoary Arts Center.
96
Articles
Bear, Liza, "An Interview with Jackie Winsor."
Avalanche, 1972.
Butterfield, Jan, "An Uncompromising Other Way," in Artsmagazine,
vol. 48, June 1974.
Celant, Germano, "Artspaces," Studio International, vol. 190, Summer
1975.
Davis, James, "On Mounds," Studio International, vol. 188, April 1974.
Davis, James, "Discussions with Heizer, Oppenheim, Smithson,"
Avalanche, Fall 1970.
Hutchinson, Peter, "Earth in Upheaval," Artsmagazine, vol. 43,
November 1968.
Kaprow, Alan, "The Shape of the Art Environment," Artforum, vol. 6,
number 8, April 1968.
Krauss, Rosalind, "Video: The Aesthetics of Narcissism," October,
Spring 1976.
Krauss, Rosalind, "Notes on the Index: Seventies Art in America.
Parts I and II," October, Spring-Fall 1977.
Kurtz, Bruce, "Fields," Artsmagazine, vol. 47, May-June 1973.
Linker, Kate, "George Trakas and the Syntax of Space," Artsmagazine,
vol. 50, January 1976.
Michelson, Annette, "Bodies in Space: Film as Carnal Knowledge,"
Artforum, vol. 7, February 1969.
Michelson, Annette, "Toward Snow: Part I," Artforum, vol. 9, June 1971.
97
Morris, Robert, "Anti-form," Artforum, vol. 6, no, 8, April 1968.
Morris, Robert, "Notes on Sculpture Parts 1-4," Artforum, vols,
4,5,6, and 7, February 1966, October 1966, Summer 1967,
April 1969.
Morris, Robert, "Some Notes on the Phenomenology of Making: The
Search for the Motivated," Artforum, vol. 8, April 1970.
Ratcliff, Carter, "Adversary Spaces," Artforum, vol. 11, October 1922.
Smithson, Robert, " .
.
. The Earth, Subject to Cataclusms Is a
Cruel Master," Artsmagazine, vol. 46, November 1971.
Smithson, Robert, "A Museum of Langauge in the Civinity of Art,"
Art International, vol. XII, no. 3, March 1968.
Smithson, Robert, "A Sedimentation of the Mind: Earth Projects,"
Artforum, vol. VII, no. 7, September 1968.
Smithson, Robert, "Aerial Art," Studio International, vol. 175, no. 89,
February/April 1969.
Smithson, Robert, "Incidents of Mirror Travel in the Yucatan,"
Artforum, vol. VIII, no. 1, September 1969.
Smithson, Robert, "The Spiral Jetty," in Arts of the Environment,
ed. by Gyorgy Kepes, New York, 1972.
Tagg, John, "In Camera, a Projected Interview on the Work of Tim
Head," Studio International, vol. 190, no. 976, July/August 1975.
Tucker, Marcia, "PheNAUMANology," Artforum, vol. 9, December 1970.
98