from Modern Art Notes -
The Future of Spiral Jetty
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A relook at the threats facing Robert Smithson's "Spiral Jetty" - as a direct result of human folly and its consequences - and comment how we, as an art community, are lacking a framework to evaluate viable course of actions needed.

Part 1: The future of Spiral Jetty.
Part 2: What's happening to the Great Salt Lake?
Part 3: Spiral Jetty, the Great Salt Lake and Dia
Part 4: Dia's 'buffer' approach to preserving Spiral Jetty
Part 5: The next step at GSL: Coalition-building, funding
Postscript: Spiral Jetty: Is federal protection a useful option?

Also see earlier posts here.
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from Getty Conservation Institute -
Documenting Spiral Jetty
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A nice overview - literally - of the need for continual visual recording of the iconic artwork as part of its preservation. Additional information to be found in the captions of the slide images.

See earlier posts on the Spiral Jetty here.
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from Modern Art Notes -
Examining the latest threat to Spiral Jetty
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from Art21 Blog -
Extending the Conservation Framework: A Site-Specific Conservation Discussion with Francesca Esmay
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When an artwork is up against the natural elements and man-made chnages, will it stand a chance of being around in time to come?

See earlier posts here.
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from Modern Art Notes -
Spiral Jetty threatened by energy development
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An impending threat to Smithson's iconic work located in Utah's Salt Lake, which would be opening up to oil drilling. Comments posted on another blog suggest that this latest development may, in fact, resonate with Smithson's notion of entropy, hence fighting it may *not* be in keeping with the artist's intention. A plausible sounding argument, albeit in a twisted and perverse way. Also see ealrier post here.
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from The New York Times -
Plans to Mix Oil Drilling and Art Clash in Utah
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An extended article on the earlier news of plans to allow oil drilling within the immediate vicinity of Robert Smithson's "Spiral Jetty". See earlier post here.
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from The Art Newspaper -
Over $1m needed to keep developers away from the Lightning Field
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With some of these iconic land art pieces becoming historical, would it not make better sense to see them as (art) historical sites and accord them the necessary protection (from a national or international perspective) as one would do for other older cultural and natural sites?

Also see earlier post on the threats facing Smithson's Spiral Jetty.
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from ARTNews Online
Moving Mountains, Walking on Water
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When the outdoor environment is the work of art - much of what has been termed as Earthworks or Land Art - it is perhaps an understatement to say that the conservation of such art is a daunting task, indeed. Perhaps, it is pertinent to clarify: "Why are we considering the conservation of such sites in the first place?" A previous New York Times article discussing Robert Smithson's Spiral Jetty raised the particularly vexing question of whether conservation or restoration is even necessary at all, although the work is indeed "deteriorating":

But the idea of doing anything to this artwork worries some people. And the intentions of the artist, who died in a plane crash at 35 in 1973, are not clear.

"When refurbishing earthworks, you don't want to create a Tussaud's wax sculpture," said Robert Storr, a former senior curator at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and a professor at the New York University Institute of Fine Arts. "Earthworks were not made to last forever. There is a danger when restoring them to make a more perfect thing than was originally done."