Abstract
The experience of walking through the urban landscape and focusing on an overlooked detail is an act of awareness of one’s surroundings. One Saturday in September 1967, Robert Smithson, equipped with a Kodak Instamatic, took a No. 30 bus out of Port Authority, bound for Passaic, New Jersey. Passaic became Smithson’s urban landscape when in 1967 he developed the discourse, “A Tour of the Monuments of Passaic, New Jersey.” One Saturday 2019, we reenact the same route of monuments Smithson outlined in his essay. In finding unexpected monuments in urban ruins we take ownership of the story one place tells.
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
2020 Special Focus: Museums & Historical Urban Landscapes
KEYWORDS
Urban landscape, Landart, Ruin, Monument, Re-enactment