ROBERT SMITHSON

Portland Cement Sites: A Dearchitectured Project

Details

ROBERT SMITHSON
Portland Cement Sites: A Dearchitectured Project
signed, titled and dated 'PortLand Cement Sites A Dearchitectured Project R. Smithson 1969 L.A.' upper edge, inscribed '1. The 3 sites will be photographed during dearchitecturization process and mapped. 2. Photos and map (4' x 4') will be shown inside museum. 3. 3 to 4 tons of Dearchitectured material from each of the Portland Cement Sites will be placed on random sites on and in the region of the museum. 4. The sites around the museum will be mapped and photographed. 5. The maps of both sites will be shown together. 6. Aerial photo-maps may also be used to designate sites. 7. Material may also be tested and studied x rayed - carbon dated etc. 8. Ecological studies of "things" near the materials may be documented. This is an on-going process and could end in a book. The Museum + Park will give limits to a widely displaced Nonsite. No Single focus but many focuses. Mine Tunnel Collapsed Cavern in Mine = Near for pit fence L.A.C.M. Site. Demolished Concrete Building = in a pond L.A.C.M. Site. Blue Limestone Landside Limestone Boulders = record the dislocated crystal lattice in blue calcite as opposed to white calcite in a thicket L.C.C.M. Site' throughout
graphite on composition board
16.5/8 x 13in. (42.2 x 35in.)
Drawn in 1969

Provenance

Estate of the Artist Ace Gallery, Los Angeles
Acquired from the above by the late owners on June 5, 1975 for $1,125

Exhibited

New York, Whitney Museum of American Art, Robert Smithson: Sculpture, Feb.-April 1982, p. 144 (illustrated)

Lot Essay

Smithson develped a category of works entitled non-sites that consisted of two parts: an activity took place and was documented at a site in the natural world, and part of that site was brought to the museum and displayed. The present drawing is related to Smithson's project for the Art and Technology program of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1961-71. The drawing maps out two different elements of this project: the distribution of a demolished concrete building around the museum's park, and the placement of blue calcite and white limestone first in a hidden cavern of a mine and then in the museum's environs. Each part of the project was to be carefully recorded and displayed with the appropriate documents in the museum.