Editing Robert Smithson (section)

==Significant works==
===''Spiral Jetty''===
{{main|Spiral Jetty}}

[[File:Iconic view 2.jpg|thumb|''Spiral Jetty'' in June 2013]]
''Spiral Jetty'' (1970) is a work of [[land art]] in the form of a 1,500-foot-long (460 m), 15-foot-wide (4.6 m) counterclockwise spiral of local basalt rocks and mud, forming a jetty that juts from the shore of the [[Great Salt Lake]] near Rozel Point in Utah. Over the years it has accumulated a patina of salt crystals when the level of the lake is low.<ref name=writings>{{cite book|last=Smithson|first=Robert|editor-last=Holt|editor-first=Nancy|title=The Writings of Robert Smithson: Essays with Illustrations|location=New York NY|publisher=New York University Press|year=1979|isbn=9780814733943}}</ref> Some art historians consider the ''Spiral Jetty'' to be the most important work by Smithson. He documented the construction of the sculpture in a 32-minute color film also titled ''Spiral Jetty''.<ref name="writings" /><ref name="Hobbs" /> Smithson wrote that he deliberately chose the site due to its proximity to a derelict oil jetty. In later years oil and gas extraction has threatened the area.<ref name="Johnson NYT 2008">{{cite news |last1=Johnson |first1=Kirk |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/27/us/27spiral.html?ref=arts | title = Plans to Mix Oil Drilling and Art Clash in Utah |access-date=June 17, 2019 |newspaper=New York Times |date=March 28, 2008}}</ref>

===''Partially Buried Woodshed''===
{{main|Partially Buried Woodshed}}
''Partially Buried Woodshed'' (1970) is an [[land art|earthwork]] created at [[Kent State University]] in [[Kent, Ohio]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.robertsmithson.com/earthworks/partially.htm|title=Partially Buried Woodshed|website=RobertSmithson.com|access-date=October 4, 2018|archive-date=March 4, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180304235451/http://robertsmithson.com/earthworks/partially.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> The work consisted of a derelict woodshed on campus that he covered with earth until the central beam broke, illustrating the concept of entropy. By 2018, only a mound of dirt and the structure's concrete foundation remain. An informational plaque is located in a small wooded area immediately behind the [[Liquid Crystal Institute]] building on the Kent State University main campus.<ref name=archives>{{cite web |title=Robert I. Smithson, Partially Buried Woodshed papers |url=http://speccoll.library.kent.edu/other/smithson.html |publisher=Kent State University Special Collections and Archives |access-date=October 3, 2018 |date=April 2017}}</ref>

===''Broken Circle/Spiral Hill''===
{{Main|Broken Circle/Spiral Hill}}
[[File:Broken Circle - Spiral Hill, Robert Smithson - Q2867150 - 5.jpg|thumb|300px|right|Robert Smithson, ''Broken Circle/Spiral Hill'', Emmen, the Netherlands]]
In 1971 Smithson created ''Broken Circle/Spiral Hill'' in Emmen, the Netherlands<ref name="Tuchman">{{cite news|last1=Tuchman|first1=Phyllis|date=January 27, 2017|title=How Do You Sell a Work of Art Built Into the Earth?|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/27/arts/design/robert-smithson-earthwork-art.html|access-date=January 31, 2017}}</ref> as part of the Sonsbeek art festival. The subject of the 1971 Sonsbeek exhibition was ''Beyond Lawn and Order'' (Dutch: Buiten de perken). The ''Broken Circle'' earthwork was built in a quarry lake 10-to-15 feet deep. It was 140 feet in diameter, with the canal 12 feet wide, and built of white and yellow sand. The accompanying ''Spiral Hill'' is made of earth, black topsoil, and white sand, and is 75 feet in diameter at its base.<ref name="Hobbs" /><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Shanken |first1=Edward A. |title=Broken Circle &/ Spiral Hill?: Smithson's spirals, pata- physics, syzygy and survival |journal=Technoetic Arts: A Journal of Speculative Research |date=2013 |volume=11 |issue=1 |pages=3–14 |doi=10.1386/tear.11.1.3_1 |url=https://artexetra.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/shanken-smithson-2013.pdf|access-date=June 17, 2019}}</ref> The work is still being maintained and occasionally opened for visitors.