Helicography

En savoir plus sur le livre

Part art history essay, part experimental fiction, and part theoretical manifesto, this work explores questions of scale through Robert Smithson’s iconic 1970 artwork, Spiral Jetty. Accompanying an essay and film, Smithson prompts us to envision the stone helix of his structure across various magnitudes, from microscopic to cosmic. Embracing this challenge, the narrative delves into the implications of transforming spirals, both natural and man-made, to the scale of Spiral Jetty. It examines the consequences of these physical metamorphoses and the unexpected equivalences that arise, revealing surprising historical, cultural, and mechanical connections. The exploration includes a diverse range of forms: fluid vortices of whirlpools and hurricanes, delicate snail shells, prehistoric ferns, and the menacing stance of rattlesnakes. It also considers ancient sharks' jaws, baroque finial scrolls, 19th-century watch springs, phonograph discs, and the world’s largest open-pit mine. The result is a narrative laboratory for Alfred Jarry’s “science of imaginary solutions,” blending fictocriticism with a unique narrative that captures a fleeting moment in the vast deserts of the intermountain west.