NYtimes reports on Smithson's Spiral Jetty and the preservation efforts being pursued by Dia and the Getty.


NYtimes reports on Smithson's Spiral Jetty and the preservation efforts being pursued by Dia and the Getty.


“In my field we’re trained to make condition reports,” said Francesca Esmay, Dia’s conservator, but she added of Smithson’s work, composed of more than 6,000 tons of rock and soil: “Its scale is such that I can’t just go out with a camera and pencil and clipboard by myself and describe it.”

Preservation concerns about “Spiral Jetty” have arisen lately not only because of the work’s re-emergence from the water but also because of plans announced in the last two and a half years by companies to initiate industrial projects near the site. One is a large expansion of a field of solar evaporation ponds used to extract potassium sulfate from the water for fertilizer. Another is a plan for exploratory oil drilling that Dia officials argued would disrupt the way the work would be viewed and potentially harm it physically. As a result of the drilling proposal — currently in limbo — Dia and Utah officials have begun exploring the creation of a buffer zone around the sculpture that would help protect it while still allowing the lake area to be used for other purposes.