a series of five framed images of a garden of nets

Smithson on view at Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea

Robert Smithson's Overgrown Structure (1971) is currently on view in the exhibition Mutual Aid. Art in collaboration with nature at Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea, Rivoli-Torino. The exhibition is curated by Francesco Manacorda and Marianna Vecellio and focuses on the "creative collaboration between humans and the non-human world by gathering a selection of artists who have addressed the interdependence between humans and nature from the 1960s to today."

While visiting the Florida Keys in 1971 Robert Smithson created Overgrown Structure—a series of twenty images of a garden with abundant tropical foliage completely covered in nets.  The netting keeps out birds and other small animals, mitigates the power of the sun, and provides a structure for growth. While the foliage grows, the nets become pulled into the structure of tree and plant tentacles. A consistent interest for Smithson is the interdependent relationship between human beings and the non-human beings and conditions that form our surroundings—the interrelationship between human-made structures and botanical growth in Overgrown Structure illustrates this enduring fascination for Smithson. 

Mutual Aid is on view at Castello di Rivoli Museo d'Art Contemporanea through March 23, 2025. Further information on the exhibition from Castello di Rivoli is available on the exhibition page.

Robert Smithson, Overgrown Structure (1971)
Installation view: Mutual Aid. Art in collaboration with nature, Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea, Rivoli-Torino, 2024
Photograph: Sebastiano Pellion di Persano
Image courtesy Castello Di Rivoli
Artwork © Holt/Smithson Foundation / Licensed by Artists Rights Society, New York

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