Smithson embraces this idea of the void, emptiness, of distance as a “consciouness devoid of self-projection”. He appreciates indifference and acknowledges that ”art is the pursuit of the uselessness”. Once again there exists an incongruity with the ideals of art (or ‘not art’) with art as a realistic practice; even Smithson and Kaprow themselves realize the impracticality of this art. I understand that there is value in the theory and ideas generated from new thought, but in the end, in every field and industry, it always comes back to being a business. You see it in healthcare, in nonprofit works, how does it continue to remain relatively pure and uncontaminated by the politics of money in the art world?
I am confused on Smithson’s idea of “non-sites” bringing social/political/etc influences into the “center” of a work or location. He also talks about how the center can be everywhere and the limits nowhere, or about how certain ideas and concepts can have inaccessible circumferences. Is this another way of him illustrating the continuity and fluidity of time and mediums, combining physical things with theoretical ideas?
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