This is the fifth volume in a series that builds upon Dia Art Foundations Artists on Artists lectures. The contributors toArtists on Robert Smithsonengage with Smithsons work in myriad ways: Matthew Buckinghams essay highlights Smithsons preoccupation with the ways that histories of the earth are constructed and contested; Abraham Cruzvillegas considers Smithsons work with broken glass and architecture; through a playful, didactic approach Mark Dion's piece recounts, from prehistoric times onward, the conceptual and evolutionary conditions that led to the artist's birth and development; Teresita Fernandez confronts the dominant histories of place, art, and concepts of the monumental; Trevor Paglen considers Smithsons iconic spiral and his fascination with natural history; Rayyane Tabet weaves together a history of basalt that reveals themes of colonialism, surveillance, and strife; and finally, engaging with the science-fiction canon and its cinematic conventions, Diana Thater provides a close reading of Smithsons Spiral Jetty film.
