Robert Smithson’s Hotel Palenque (1969-72) uses the format of the travel slide lecture to reconsider tourism, monuments, and the expectations of travel itself. In 1969 he traveled to Mexico and chose to extensively document the hotel where he stayed. The building was, in his words, “rising into ruin.” As one part was being built, another section started to crumble and needed attention—just like any home improvement project.

"Hypothetical Continent (Icecap of Gondwanaland)" was realized in April 1969 near Uxmal, Mexico. He arranged white stones on the earth to map a fragment of Gondwana—the prehistoric supercontinent that once joined much of the Southern Hemisphere’s landmasses—then documented the configuration photographically.