Brooklyn (Spiral Jetty After Smithson)

Vik Muniz

1997 · Gelatin silver print · Photographs

Virtuoso of the commonplace, Muniz creates witty conceptual tableaux out of humble matter-fake etchings out of miles of thread, cloudscapes from cotton or marble floor patterning-that comment wryly on history and memory, perception and illusion. Continuing his affectionate assault on the giants of twentieth century art, Muniz created a Lilliputian version of Spiral Jetty-the late Robert Smithson's earthwork in the Great Salt Lake, Utah-out of dirt in his Brooklyn studio. While Muniz assumes the role of basement tinkerer to Smithson's Faustian persona, both created earthworks with dizzying shifts in scale and a marked temporal aspect: Spiral Jetty emerges and disappears with the tides while its Brooklyn miniature was erased with a tilt of the table. Most importantly, Muniz highlights the crucial role that photography played in the Smithson "original," a site-specific work whose remoteness is counterbalanced by the camera's capacity for infinite reproduction and dissemination.

Artist

Vik Muniz

Date

1997

Medium

Gelatin silver print

Department

Photographs

Credit line

Purchase, Charina Foundation Inc. Gift, 2000