SPIRAL JETTY by Robert Smithson
“Spiral Jetty. Great Salt Lake. Box Elder County. Utah.”
“the earth’s history seems at times like a story recorded in a book each page of which is torn into small pieces. Many of the pages and some of the pieces of each page are missing...”
(from Thomas H. Clark and Colin W. Stearn, Geological Evolution of North America, 1968)
“the notion that the lake must be connected to the pacific ocean, by subterranean channel at the head of which a huge whirlpool threatened the safety of the lake craft, was not dispelled until 1870’s long after people should’ve known better. As a matter of fact, “eyewitnesses” reported the location of the whirlpool about midway between Fremantle and Antelope Islands.”
(from Guidebook to The Geology of Utah #20)
“The Lost World”
“Nothing has ever changed since I have been here. But I dare not infer from this that nothing ever will change. Let us try and see where these considerations lead. I have been here, ever since I began to be, my appearances elsewhere having been put in by other parties. All has proceeded, all this time, in the utmost calm, the most perfect order, apart from one or two manifestations the meaning of which escapes me. No, it is not that their meaning escapes me, my own escapes me just as much. Here all things, no, I shall not say it, being unable to. I owe [my] existence to no one, these faint fires are not of those that illuminate or burn. Going nowhere, coming from nowhere…”
(from Samuel Beckett, The Unnameable, 1953)
“TOWNSHIP 8 NORTH OF RANGE 7 WEST OF THE SALT LAKE BASE AND MERIDIAN:
Unsurveyed land on the bed of the Great Salt Lake, if surveyed would be described as follows.
Beginning at a point South 3000 feet and West 800 feet from the Northeast Corner of Section 8, Township 8 North, Range 7 West; thence South 45 degrees West 651 feet; thence North 60 degrees West 651 feet; thence North 45 degrees East 651 feet; thence Southeasterly along the meander line 675 feet to the point of beginning. Containing 10 acres, more or less.” (Special Use Lease Agreement No. 222; witness Mr. Mark Crystal.)
“North of the Lucin Cutoff, the water is red or pink color, due to algae, in the brine.”
“A string was extended from central stake in order to get the arcs in the spiral.”
“Rozel Point is a small blunt peninsula of tertiary rocks extending Southward on the northshore of Great Salt Lake. It is composed of black basalt flows and interbedded irregular lenses of light grayish-tan limestone. The basalt is conspicuously vesicular and the limestone is part bedded and in part massive, with the massive layers fairy porous, much like a spring deposit.”
(from A. J. Eardley)
“Ripping the Spiral Jetty.”
“FROM THE CENTER OF THE SPIRAL JETTY
North - Mud, salt crystals, rocks, water
North by East - Mud, salt crystals, rocks, water
Northeast by North - Mud, salt crystals, rocks, water
Northeast by East - Mud, salt crystals, rocks, water
East by North - Mud, salt crystals, rocks, water
East - Mud, salt crystals, rocks, water
East by South - Mud, salt crystals, rocks, water
Southeast by East - Mud, salt crystals, rocks, water
Southeast by South - Mud, salt crystals, rocks, water
South by East - Mud, salt crystals, rocks, water
South - Mud, salt crystals, rocks, water
South by West - Mud, salt crystals, rocks, water
Southwest by South - Mud, salt crystals, rocks, water
Southwest by West - Mud, salt crystals, rocks, water
West by South - Mud, salt crystals, rocks, water
West - Mud, salt crystals, rocks, water
West by North - Mud, salt crystals, rocks, water
Northwest by West - Mud, salt crystals, rocks, water
Northwest by North - Mud, salt crystals, rocks, water
North by West - Mud, salt crystals, rocks, water”
“The crystal steps will actually wind itself into a spiral during growth, at the steady state the spiral will appear to rotate. The right-and-left-handed dislocations give rise to clockwise and anti-clockwise spirals.”
(from Ajit Ram Verma and P. Krishna, Polymorphism and Polytypism in Crystals, 1966)
“Gazing intently at the gigantic sun, we at last deciphered the riddle of its unfamiliar aspect. It was not a single flaming star, but millions upon millions of them, all clustering thickly, together like bees in a swarm, their packed density made up the deceptive appearance of a solid inpenetrable flame. It was in fact, a vast spiral nebula of innumerable suns.”
(from John Taine, The Time Stream, 1931)
“He leads us to the steps of the jail’s main entrance, pivots and again locks his gaze into the sun. ‘Spirals,’ he whispers. ‘Spirals coming away…circles curling out of the sun.’”
(from John Taine, The Time Stream, 1931)
“Sunstroke - This term is usually restricted to the condition resulting from exposure to intense sunlight. In mild cases, it may consist only a headache and a sense of lassitude, persisting for a few hours. In more severe cases, there may be intense headache, aversion to light, vomiting, and delirium. The skin is dry, the pulse is rapid, and there is a moderate rise in temperature. Recovery may be slow in severe cases, and for a long period subsequently, there may be loss of memory and inability to concentrate.”
(from Blacks Medical Dictionary)
Camera: Robert Fiore
Nancy Holt
Robert Logan
Robert Smithson
Sound: Robert Fiore
Robert Logan
Editing: Barbara Jarvis
