About the Artwork
Smithson was intrigued with synthesizing two contradictory aspects of art: his ecological concerns with nature and geology, and his cynical notions about public art. The title of the work refers to the transfer of the rocks from their original "site" to a gallery or museum setting, which is the "non site." His use of the unconventional material of cannel coal draws attention to his preoccupation with the notion of entropy, which is the slow degradation of matter and energy. His work is classified as part of the postminimalist movement, which diverged from the highly structured principles of minimalism. The steel bins reflect the minimalist's rigid aesthetic of serial ordering; inside the bins, however, the order becomes chaotic as the cannel coal is not arranged in any particular configuration.
Nonsite, Site Uncertain
1968
Robert Smithson
1938 - 1973
American
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Cannel coal, steel and enamel
Overall (Displayed): 15 × 90 × 90 inches (38.1 × 228.6 × 228.6 cm) Overall (76.95.A): 3 × 9 × 9 inches (7.6 × 22.9 × 22.9 cm) Overall (76.95.B): 5 × 14 × 14 inches (12.7 × 35.6 × 35.6 cm) Overall (76.95.C): 7 × 21 × 21 inches (17.8 × 53.3 × 53.3 cm) Overall (76.95.D): 9 × 30 × 30 inches (22.9 × 76.2 × 76.2 cm) Overall (76.95.E): 11 × 41 × 41 inches (27.9 × 104.1 × 104.1 cm) Overall (76.95.F): 15 × 69 × 69 inches (38.1 × 175.3 × 175.3 cm)
Sculpture
Contemporary Art after 1950
Founders Society Purchase, Dr. and Mrs. George Kamperman Fund and New Endowment Fund
76.95
Restricted
Markings
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Provenance
(Ace Gallery, Los Angeles, California, USA);1968-1975, Ian Davison (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada);
1975, Roger Davison (Toronto, Ontario, Canada).
1976-present, purchase by the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)
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Provenance pageExhibition History
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The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.
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Suggest FeedbackPublished References
Bulletin of the DIA 56, no. 1 (1977): pp. 33-34 (ill.).
Hobbs, Robert. Robert Smithson: Sculpture. Ithaca and London, 1981, p. 115 (ill.).
The New Sculpture 1965-75: Between Geometry and Gesture. Exh. cat., Whitney Museum of American Art. New York, 1990, p. 105 (ill.).
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Credit Line for Reproduction
Robert Smithson, Nonsite, Site Uncertain, 1968, cannel coal, steel and enamel. Detroit Institute of Arts, Founders Society Purchase, Dr. and Mrs. George Kamperman Fund and New Endowment Fund, 76.95.
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