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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We are proud to partner with Land Art Lives, in collaboration with Land Art Contemporary, Land Arts of the American West, to present the second edition of a special livestream conversation between two iconic earthworks by Robert Smithson: Spiral Jetty (1970) and Broken Circle/Spiral Hill (1971). 

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Chapter Eight of Tuesday Texts

We are happy to announce that throughout August we are publishing the eighth chapter of our Tuesday Text Series as part of our ongoing Scholarly Text Program, which invites thinkers to focus on a single artwork by Holt and/or Smithson. 

Every Tuesday will be publishing a new essay or selecting an essay first published in 2019 on our website, which all include images selected by the author, a short bibliography, citation reference, and endnotes pointing to the author’s references.