Spiral Jetty
Spiral Jetty is the name of an earthwork scupture built in 1970 by American artist Robert Smithson. The sculpture consists of a 1500-foot long and 15-foot wide counterclockwise coil of black basalt rocks and earth on the northeastern shore of the Great Salt Lake near Rozel Point in Utah. The work is considered to be Smithson's masterpiece.
In order to create the jetty, Smithson hired a contractor Bob Phillips of nearby Ogden, Utah who used two dump trucks, a large tractor, and a front loader to haul the 6,550 tons of rock and earth into the lake. It is reported that Smithson had a difficult time convincing a local contractor to accept the unusual proposal for the work.
Construction
Construction of the work began in April 1970 and took six days. It was filmed by helicopters flying overhead. While observing it from above, Smithson remarked "Et in Utah Ego" in reference to a famous painting by Nicholas Poussin.
The piece was financed in part by a nine thousand dollar grant from the Virginia Dawn Gallery of New York. A 20-year lease for the site was granted for one hundred dollars.
At the time of its construction, the water level of the lake was abnormally low due to a drought. The completed scuplture was starkly black against the red waters of the lake. He disliked the notion of pastoral gardens and prefered the stark beauty of site which was augmented by abandoned oil rigs and ruined embankments from nearby Golden Spike National Historic Site.
Smithson reportedly chose the Rozel Point site based on the blood-red color of the waters and its connection with the primordial seas. The red hue of the water is due the presence of saltotolerant bacteria and algae that thrive in the extreme 27 percent salinity of the lake's north arm, which was isolated from fresh water sources by building of a causeway by the Southern Pacific Railroad in 1959.
The black basalt boulders date were likely formed in volcanic eruptions in the Pliocene Epoch between two and five millions years ago.
Submersion and Re-Emergence
Within a few years of its construction, however, the rising waters of the lake completely submerged it, a situation that lasted for almost three decades. Smithson died in a plane crash in Texas only three years after completing the sculpture.
In 1999 drought lowered the water level of lake enough such that the jetty re-emerged. At the present time, the level of the lake has fallen so much that the jetty is completely exposed and the rocks are now largest encrusted with white salt.
The current exposure of the jetty to the elements and to the ravages of its growing number of visitors has lead to a controversy over the preservation of the sculpture. The discoloration of the rocks and the exposure of the lake bed having altered the colors of the original, a proposal has emerged to buttress the sculpture and restore the original colors by the addition of new basalt rocks in the spirit of the original. It is expected that without such additions, the sculpture will be submerged again once the drought is over.
The issue has been complicated by the ambiguous statements by Smithson, who expressed both an admiration for entropy as well as a desire that his works be preserved as much as possible.
The sculpture is current owned by the Dia Art Foundation of New York, who acquired the piece by a donation from Smithson's estate in 1999.
External links
Directions to the Jetty by the National Park Service.
Utah Geological Survey site on the Jetty
The Immobile Cyclone by Angelika Pagel.