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103-584: Spiral Jetty is a work of land art constructed in April 1970 that is considered to be the most important work by American sculptor Robert Smithson . Smithson documented the construction of the sculpture in a 32-minute color film also titled Spiral Jetty . Built on the northeastern shore of the Great Salt Lake near Rozel Point in Utah entirely of mud, salt crystals, and basalt rocks, Spiral Jetty forms

206-489: A 1,500-foot-long (460 m), 15-foot-wide (4.6 m) counterclockwise coil jutting from the shore of the lake. In 1999, the artwork was donated to the Dia Art Foundation ; it is one of 12 locations and sites owned by the foundation. Since its initial construction, those interested in its fate have dealt with questions of proposed changes in land use in the area surrounding the sculpture. In order to preserve

309-405: A central state apparatus designed to manage state institutions more efficiently. These changes helped Texas universities receive federal research funds. Beginning around the mid-20th century, Texas began to transform from a rural and agricultural state to one urban and industrialized. The state's population grew quickly during this period, with large levels of migration from outside the state. As

412-488: A few unused oil rigs. While observing the construction of the piece from a helicopter, Smithson reportedly remarked "et in Utah ego" as a counterpoint to the pastoral Baroque painting et in Arcadia ego by Nicolas Poussin . To move the rock into the lake, Smithson hired Bob Phillips of nearby Ogden, Utah , who used two dump trucks, a large tractor, and a front end loader to haul the 6,650 tons of rock and earth into

515-568: A frontier territory. The state became notorious as a haven for people from other parts of the country who wanted to escape debt, war tensions, or other problems. "Gone to Texas" was a common expression for those fleeing the law in other states. Nevertheless, the state also attracted many businessmen and other settlers with more legitimate interests. The cattle industry continued to thrive, though it gradually became less profitable. Cotton and lumber became major industries creating new economic booms in various regions. Railroad networks grew rapidly as did

618-523: A major destination for migration during the early 21st century and was named the most popular state to move for three consecutive years. Another study in 2019 determined Texas's growth rate at 1,000 people per day. During the COVID-19 pandemic in Texas , the first confirmed case of the virus in Texas was announced on March 4, 2020. On April 27, 2020, Governor Greg Abbott announced phase one of re-opening

721-542: A part of the Sun Belt , Texas experienced strong economic growth, particularly during the 1970s and early 1980s. Texas's economy diversified, lessening its reliance on the petroleum industry . By 1990, Hispanics and Latino Americans overtook Blacks to become the largest minority group. Texas has the largest Black population with over 3.9 million. During the late 20th century, the Republican Party replaced

824-591: A physical location; instead, they have become signs that direct viewers to an apparitional and chemically vanished object. Lunberry questions the grounding and ontological location of the Spiral Jetty , suggesting that its various manifestations, including photographs, essays, films, and the actual earthwork, refer to each other but do not fully settle on a singular object. He states: The photographs thus remain as utterly believable substitutes, authentic apparitions, all that has been needed to restore to our eager eyes

927-460: A state of arrested disruption and not be kept from destruction. Dia's website states that visitors are prohibited from removing rocks from the artwork or from stepping on vegetation that is on the grounds of the artwork. Visitors are also prohibited from constructing fire pits near the artwork or on the parking lot. If caught, visitors will face strict fines. The website also states that visitors are instructed to carry out their waste. In 1970 during

1030-634: A supply state was marginalized in mid-1863 after the Union capture of the Mississippi River . The final battle of the Civil War was fought at Palmito Ranch , near Brownsville, Texas, and saw a Confederate victory. Texas descended into anarchy for two months between the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia and the assumption of authority by Union General Gordon Granger . Violence marked

1133-412: A tendency to move Spiral Jetty into an empty signifier without the signified . He mentioned in an interview, "If you make a system, you can be sure the system is bound to evade itself, so I see no point in pinning any hope on systems." Smithson realized the instability of fugitivity of one's surroundings but still required the viewers to apprehend them through their eyes and ears. Over the decades since

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1236-435: A third of Colorado , and small portions of Kansas , Oklahoma , and Wyoming to the federal government, in return for the assumption of $ 10 million of the old republic's debt. Post-war Texas grew rapidly as migrants poured into the cotton lands of the state. They also brought or purchased enslaved African Americans, whose numbers tripled in the state from 1850 to 1860, from 58,000 to 182,566. Texas re-entered war following

1339-512: Is meant to be unable to categorize or classify the site, and will be left in a state free from the dialect of history. The film has been described as Smithson's attempt to "leave the viewer with a sense that the monumental artwork is connected to a vast mental landscape of meanings and associations". The work was named Utah's official state work of land art in 2017. April 2020 marked the Spiral Jetty ' s 50th anniversary, which Smithson referred to shortly before his death in 1973 as "the work of

1442-468: Is the second-largest U.S. state by area, after Alaska , and the largest state within the contiguous United States , at 268,820 square miles (696,200 km ). If it were an independent country, Texas would be the 39th-largest . It ranks 26th worldwide amongst country subdivisions by size . Texas is in the south central part of the United States. The Rio Grande forms a natural border with

1545-736: Is the most populous state in the South Central region of the United States . It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the west, and an international border with the Mexican states of Chihuahua , Coahuila , Nuevo León , and Tamaulipas to the south and southwest. Texas has a coastline on the Gulf of Mexico to the southeast. Covering 268,596 square miles (695,660 km ), and with over 30 million residents as of 2023, it

1648-527: Is the second-largest state by both area and population . Texas is nicknamed the Lone Star State for its former status as an independent republic . Spain was the first European country to claim and control Texas. Following a short-lived colony controlled by France, Mexico controlled the land until 1836 when Texas won its independence, becoming the Republic of Texas . In 1845, Texas joined

1751-460: Is to be believed and "perception is only a true hallucination", then where would we have to go, what would we have to do to locate the precise vanishing point of Smithson's Spiral Jetty , to arrive at the site of our own craving, to see the source of our own hallucination? Lunberry suggested that there is a "dialectical play arises in the process of creating affective awareness" Lunberry's affective memories were primarily produced by his own picture of

1854-519: Is unetymological, contrary to the historical value of the letter x ( / ʃ / ) in Spanish orthography . Alternative etymologies of the name advanced in the late 19th century connected the name Texas with the Spanish word teja , meaning 'roof tile', the plural tejas being used to designate Indigenous Pueblo settlements. A 1760s map by Jacques-Nicolas Bellin shows a village named Teijas on

1957-642: The Aranama , lived in southern Texas. This entire culture group, primarily centered in northeastern Mexico , is now extinct. No culture was dominant across all of present-day Texas, and many peoples inhabited the area. Native American tribes who have lived inside the boundaries of present-day Texas include the Alabama , Apache , Atakapan , Bidai , Caddo , Aranama , Comanche , Choctaw , Coushatta , Hasinai , Jumano , Karankawa , Kickapoo , Kiowa , Tonkawa , and Wichita . Many of these peoples migrated from

2060-595: The Battle of Gonzales . This launched the Texas Revolution . Texians elected delegates to the Consultation , which created a provisional government. The provisional government soon collapsed from infighting, and Texas was without clear governance for the first two months of 1836. Mexican President Antonio López de Santa Anna personally led an army to end the revolt. General José de Urrea defeated all

2163-661: The Democratic Party as the dominant party in the state. Beginning in the early 21st century, metropolitan areas including Dallas–Fort Worth and Greater Austin became centers for the Texas Democratic Party in statewide and national elections as liberal policies became more accepted in urban areas. From the mid-2000s to 2019, Texas gained an influx of business relocations and regional headquarters from companies in California . Texas became

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2266-517: The Gulf of Mexico . The resulting " oil boom " transformed Texas. Oil production averaged three million barrels per day at its peak in 1972. In 1901, the Democratic-dominated state legislature passed a bill requiring payment of a poll tax for voting, which effectively disenfranchised most Black and many poor White and Latino people. In addition, the legislature established white primaries , ensuring minorities were excluded from

2369-732: The Mississippian culture , also known as Mound Builders , which extended along the Mississippi River Valley east of Texas; and the civilizations of Mesoamerica , which were centered south of Texas. Influence of Teotihuacan in northern Mexico peaked around AD 500 and declined between the 8th and 10th centuries. When Europeans arrived in the Texas region, the language families present in the state were Caddoan, Atakapan , Athabaskan, Coahuiltecan , and Uto-Aztecan, in addition to several language isolates such as Tonkawa . Uto-Aztecan Puebloan and Jumano peoples lived neared

2472-625: The Old Three Hundred , made places along the Brazos River in 1822. The population of Texas grew rapidly. In 1825, Texas had about 3,500 people, with most of Mexican descent. By 1834, the population had grown to about 37,800 people, with only 7,800 of Mexican descent. Many immigrants openly flouted Mexican law, especially the prohibition against slavery . Combined with United States' attempts to purchase Texas, Mexican authorities decided in 1830 to prohibit continued immigration from

2575-568: The Pacific Ocean . Their opponents, led by Sam Houston, advocated the annexation of Texas to the United States and peaceful co-existence with Native Americans. The conflict between the factions was typified by an incident known as the Texas Archive War . With wide popular support, Texas first applied for annexation to the United States in 1836, but its status as a slaveholding country caused its admission to be controversial and it

2678-546: The Saint Malo settlement assisting Jean Lafitte in the Battle of New Orleans . In 1821, the Mexican War of Independence included the Texas territory, which became part of Mexico. Due to its low population, the territory was assigned to other states and territories of Mexico ; the core territory was part of the state of Coahuila y Tejas , but other parts of today's Texas were part of Tamaulipas , Chihuahua , or

2781-958: The Spiral Jetty with Smithson. Since 2012, the present owner of the Spiral Jetty , the Dia Foundation, has committed to annual aerial documentation. Smithson was confident that "if the work is strong enough and photographed properly, it is fed back into mass distribution". Land art Too Many Requests If you report this error to the Wikimedia System Administrators, please include the details below. Request from 172.68.168.226 via cp1108 cp1108, Varnish XID 222269660 Upstream caches: cp1108 int Error: 429, Too Many Requests at Thu, 28 Nov 2024 07:52:08 GMT Texas Texas ( / ˈ t ɛ k s ə s / TEK -səss , locally also / ˈ t ɛ k s ɪ z / TEK -siz ; Spanish : Texas or Tejas , pronounced [ˈtexas] )

2884-691: The Trinity River , close to the site of modern Crockett . Texas lies between two major cultural spheres of Pre-Columbian North America : the Southwestern and the Plains areas. Archaeologists have found that three major Indigenous cultures lived in this territory, and reached their developmental peak before the first European contact. These were: the Ancestral Puebloans from the upper Rio Grande region, centered west of Texas;

2987-557: The election of 1860 . During this time, Black people comprised 30 percent of the state's population, and they were overwhelmingly enslaved. When Abraham Lincoln was elected, South Carolina seceded from the Union; five other Deep South states quickly followed. A state convention considering secession opened in Austin on January 28, 1861. On February 1, by a vote of 166–8, the convention adopted an Ordinance of Secession . Texas voters approved this Ordinance on February 23, 1861. Texas joined

3090-682: The federalists against the government and drove all Mexican soldiers out of East Texas. They took advantage of the lack of oversight to agitate for more political freedom. Texians met at the Convention of 1832 to discuss requesting independent statehood, among other issues. The following year, Texians reiterated their demands at the Convention of 1833 . Within Mexico, tensions continued between federalists and centralists. In early 1835, wary Texians formed Committees of Correspondence and Safety. The unrest erupted into armed conflict in late 1835 at

3193-684: The Caddo meant that few were converted. Positioned between French Louisiana and Spanish Texas, the Caddo maintained relations with both, but were closer with the French. After Spain took control of Louisiana, most of the missions in eastern Texas were closed and abandoned. The United States obtained Louisiana following the 1803 Louisiana Purchase and began convincing tribes to self-segregate from whites by moving west; facing an overflow of native peoples in Missouri and Arkansas, they were able to negotiate with

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3296-582: The Caddo of Louisiana and Arkansas. Following the Texas Revolution, the Texans chose to make peace with the Indigenous people, but did not honor former land claims or agreements. The first president of Texas, Sam Houston , aimed to cooperate and make peace with Native tribes, but his successor, Mirabeau B. Lamar , took a much more hostile stance. Hostility towards Natives by white Texans prompted

3399-568: The Caddo to allow several displaced peoples to settle on unused lands in eastern Texas. These included the Muscogee , Houma Choctaw , Lenape and Mingo Seneca , among others, who came to view the Caddoans as saviors. The temperament of Native American tribes affected the fates of European explorers and settlers in that land. Friendly tribes taught newcomers how to grow local crops, prepare foods, and hunt wild game . Warlike tribes resisted

3502-532: The Caddo, with the U.S. government trying to keep them in check. The Caddo never turned to violence because of the situation, except in cases of self-defense. By the 1830s, the U.S. had drafted the Indian Removal Act, which was used to facilitate the Trail of Tears. Fearing retribution, Indian Agents all over the eastern U.S. tried to convince all Indigenous peoples to uproot and move west. This included

3605-472: The Caddo. After Caddo resistance, the Spanish missionaries returned to Mexico. When France began settling Louisiana , in 1716 Spanish authorities responded by founding a new series of missions in East Texas. Two years later, they created San Antonio as the first Spanish civilian settlement in the area. Hostile native tribes and distance from nearby Spanish colonies discouraged settlers from moving to

3708-462: The Civil War and the restoration of its representation in the federal government, Texas entered a long period of economic stagnation. Historically, five major industries shaped the Texas economy prior to World War II : cattle, bison, cotton, timber, and oil. Before and after the Civil War, the cattle industry—which Texas came to dominate—was a major economic driver and created the traditional image of

3811-599: The Confederacy, Houston was deposed. While far from the major battlefields of the American Civil War , Texas contributed large numbers of soldiers and equipment. Union troops briefly occupied the state's primary port, Galveston. Texas's border with Mexico was known as the "backdoor of the Confederacy" because trade occurred at the border, bypassing the Union blockade. The Confederacy repulsed all Union attempts to shut down this route, but Texas's role as

3914-665: The Convention disbanded. The new government joined the other settlers in Texas in the Runaway Scrape , fleeing from the approaching Mexican army. After several weeks of retreat, the Texian Army commanded by Sam Houston attacked and defeated López de Santa Anna's forces at the Battle of San Jacinto . López de Santa Anna was captured and forced to sign the Treaties of Velasco , ending the war. The Constitution of

4017-616: The Great Salt Lake Institute at Westminster College (GSLI) and the Utah Museum of Fine Arts (UMFA) at the University of Utah, who have been deeply involved in the advocacy of Spiral Jetty over the years. In 2008, plans were announced for exploratory oil drilling approximately five miles from the jetty. This was met with strong resistance from artists, and the state of Utah received more than 3,000 emails about

4120-527: The Mexican Territory of Santa Fe de Nuevo México . Hoping more settlers would reduce the near-constant Comanche raids, Mexican Texas liberalized its immigration policies to permit immigrants from outside Mexico and Spain. Large swathes of land were allotted to empresarios , who recruited settlers from the United States, Europe, and the Mexican interior, primarily the U.S. Austin's settlers,

4223-426: The Mexican states of Chihuahua , Coahuila , Nuevo León , and Tamaulipas to the south. The Red River forms a natural border with Oklahoma and Arkansas to the north. The Sabine River forms a natural border with Louisiana to the east. The Texas Panhandle has an eastern border with Oklahoma at 100° W , a northern border with Oklahoma at 36°30' N and a western border with New Mexico at 103° W . El Paso lies on

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4326-486: The Northern United States or California and to escape segregation. In 1940, Texas was 74% White , 14.4% Black, and 11.5% Hispanic. World War II had a dramatic impact on Texas, as federal money poured in to build military bases, munitions factories, detention camps and Army hospitals; 750,000 Texans left for service; the cities exploded with new industry; and hundreds of thousands of poor farmers left

4429-618: The Philippines'), or as provincia de los Tejas ('province of the Tejas '), later also provincia de Texas (or de Tejas ), ('province of Texas'). It was incorporated as provincia de Texas into the Mexican Empire in 1821, and declared a republic in 1836. The Royal Spanish Academy recognizes both spellings, Tejas and Texas , as Spanish-language forms of the name. The English pronunciation with /ks/

4532-527: The Republic of Texas prohibited the government from restricting slavery or freeing slaves, and required free people of African descent to leave the country. Political battles raged between two factions of the new Republic. The nationalist faction, led by Mirabeau B. Lamar , advocated the continued independence of Texas, the expulsion of the Native Americans , and the expansion of the Republic to

4635-749: The Rio Grande in the western portion of the state and the Athabaskan-speaking Apache tribes lived throughout the interior. The agricultural, mound-building Caddo controlled much of the northeastern part of the state, along the Red , Sabine , and Neches River basins. Atakapan peoples such as the Akokisa and Bidai lived along the northeastern Gulf Coast; the Karankawa lived along the central coast. At least one tribe of Coahuiltecans ,

4738-635: The Rio Grande on January 13, 1846. A few months later Mexican troops routed an American cavalry patrol in the disputed area in the Thornton Affair starting the Mexican–American War . The first battles of the war were fought in Texas: the Siege of Fort Texas , Battle of Palo Alto and Battle of Resaca de la Palma . After these decisive victories, the United States invaded Mexican territory, ending

4841-495: The Spiral Jetty, and an active recall of his past conscious and unconscious memories of seeing the Spiral Jetty years after his last visit. Similar to Krauss, Lunberry's viewing experience involved an imaginary voyage, except that he is aware of temporality: Spiral Jetty has vanished. Lunberry stated, "the effect of a ghost whose mysterious apparitions During and after the completion of the work, Gianfranco Gorgoni documented

4944-399: The Texas cowboy. In the later 19th century, cotton and lumber grew to be major industries as the cattle industry became less lucrative. Ultimately, the discovery of major petroleum deposits ( Spindletop in particular) initiated an economic boom that became the driving force behind the economy for much of the 20th century. Texas developed a diversified economy and high tech industry during

5047-599: The Texian resistance along the coast culminating in the Goliad massacre . López de Santa Anna's forces, after a thirteen-day siege , overwhelmed Texian defenders at the Battle of the Alamo . News of the defeats sparked panic among Texas settlers. The newly elected Texian delegates to the Convention of 1836 quickly signed a declaration of independence on March 2, forming the Republic of Texas . After electing interim officers,

5150-611: The U.S. After Texas's annexation, Mexico broke diplomatic relations with the United States. While the United States claimed Texas's border stretched to the Rio Grande, Mexico claimed it was the Nueces River leaving the Rio Grande Valley under contested Texan sovereignty. While the former Republic of Texas could not enforce its border claims, the United States had the military strength and the political will to do so. President Polk ordered General Zachary Taylor south to

5253-467: The United States of America as the 28th state. The state's annexation set off a chain of events that led to the Mexican–American War in 1846. Following victory by the United States, Texas remained a slave state until the American Civil War , when it declared its secession from the Union in early 1861 before officially joining the Confederate States of America on March   2. After

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5356-444: The United States. However, illegal immigration from the United States into Mexico continued to increase the population of Texas. New laws also called for the enforcement of customs duties angering native Mexican citizens ( Tejanos ) and recent immigrants alike. The Anahuac Disturbances in 1832 were the first open revolt against Mexican rule, coinciding with a revolt in Mexico against the nation's president. Texians sided with

5459-523: The agreement. Several filibusters raised armies to invade the area west of the Sabine River. Marked by the War of 1812 , some men who had escaped from the Spanish, held (Old) Philippines had immigrated to and also passed through Texas (New Philippines) and reached Louisiana where Philippine exiles aided the United States in the defense of New Orleans against a British invasion, with Filipinos in

5562-578: The area. It was one of New Spain's least populated provinces. In 1749, the Spanish peace treaty with the Lipan Apache angered many tribes, including the Comanche, Tonkawa, and Hasinai. The Comanche signed a treaty with Spain in 1785 and later helped to defeat the Lipan Apache and Karankawa tribes. With numerous missions being established, priests led a peaceful conversion of most tribes. By

5665-401: The art object's placement or production outside of the museum institution. His writings also indicate that the helicopter film sequences over the jetty were a method of "recapitulating the scale of the jetty". By visually disorienting the viewer, Smithson is able to negate a time and place for the materiality of the artwork or create what he calls a "cosmic rupture". Through this state, the viewer

5768-514: The colony of Fort Saint Louis at Matagorda Bay rather than along the Mississippi River . The colony lasted only four years before succumbing to harsh conditions and hostile natives. A small band of survivors traveled eastward into the lands of the Caddo, but La Salle was killed by disgruntled expedition members. In 1690 Spanish authorities, concerned that France posed a competitive threat, constructed several missions in East Texas among

5871-514: The concept of space as a static condition, leading to a reassessment of the notion of temporality. According to Manuel DeLanda , "Rocks and winds, germs and words, are all different manifestations of this dynamic reality...this single matter-energy expresses itself." While time and space are seen as key in the discussion of modern sculpture, it raises challenges for analyzing Spiral Jetty through photographs as it suggests another temporality and hence different values. As Krauss explains: "In using

5974-501: The construction of the jetty, Robert Smithson wrote and directed a 32-minute color film, Spiral Jetty . The film was shot by Smithson and his wife Nancy Holt , and funded by Virginia Dwan and Douglas Christmas. The film documented the construction process and also formed an ancillary artwork. Smithson combines his interest in geology, paleontology, astronomy, mythology and cinema, stating that he had an interest in documenting "the earth's history". In conjunction with filmed sequences of

6077-507: The creation of historical fantasies. But the Spiral Jetty attempts to supplant historical formulas with the experience of a moment-to-moment passage through space and time." However, the site experience and the referents are not self-sufficient, as art historian Ann Morris Reynolds says: Although I acknowledged that these descriptions were partial and distanced from their referent ... I still felt they provided visual and conceptual proxies, images and ideas, that seemed sufficient. September for

6180-402: The crystal formation and the enclosed nature of the Salt Lake, Smithson created a sense of containment and movement. The complexity of matter creates an irrational " surd " area. The idea of a closed space is established through the aesthetic concept of crystalline mapping. Influenced by Wiener's system of feedback and entropy, Smithson was aware that the circulation of its photographs would have

6283-429: The decade". It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2024. The ephemeral nature of the Spiral Jetty (sometimes visible, sometimes submerged) sparked inquiries into the enduring influence of the artwork and the importance of its various representations, such as photographs, films, and essays. The photographs played a critical role in preserving and promoting the earthwork's growing renown, acting as

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6386-442: The desert and mountains of the Big Bend . The name Texas , based on the Caddo word táy:shaʼ ( /tə́jːʃaʔ/ ) 'friend', was applied, in the spelling Tejas or Texas , by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves, specifically the Hasinai Confederacy. During Spanish colonial rule , in the 18th century, the area was known as Nuevas Filipinas (' New Philippines ') and Nuevo Reino de Filipinas ('New Kingdom of

6489-410: The early months of Reconstruction . Juneteenth commemorates the announcement of the Emancipation Proclamation in Galveston by General Gordon Granger, almost two and a half years after the original announcement. President Johnson, in 1866, declared the civilian government restored in Texas. Despite not meeting Reconstruction requirements, Congress resumed allowing elected Texas representatives into

6592-437: The east, seeking a route to Mexico. They passed through the Caddo lands but turned back after reaching the River of Daycao (possibly the Brazos or Colorado), beyond which point the Native peoples were nomadic and did not have the agricultural stores to feed the expedition. European powers ignored the area until accidentally settling there in 1685. Miscalculations by René-Robert Cavelier de La Salle resulted in his establishing

6695-423: The economy. Amid a rise in COVID-19 cases in autumn 2020, Abbott refused to enact further lockdowns. In November 2020, Texas was selected as one of four states to test Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine distribution. As of February 2, 2021, there had been over 2.4 million confirmed cases in Texas, with at least 37,417 deaths. During February 13–17, 2021, the state faced a major weather emergency as Winter Storm Uri hit

6798-416: The end of the 18th century only a few nomadic tribes had not converted. When the United States purchased Louisiana from France in 1803, American authorities insisted the agreement also included Texas. The boundary between New Spain and the United States was finally set in 1819 at the Sabine River , the modern border between Texas and Louisiana. Eager for new land, many U.S. settlers refused to recognize

6901-401: The federal government for their opposition to U.S. involvement in World War I . The Great Depression and the Dust Bowl dealt a double blow to the state's economy, which had significantly improved since the Civil War. Migrants abandoned the worst-hit sections of Texas during the Dust Bowl years. Especially from this period on, Black people left Texas in the Great Migration to get work in

7004-404: The federal government in 1870. Social volatility continued as the state struggled with agricultural depression and labor issues. Like most of the South, the Texas economy was devastated by the War. However, since the state had not been as dependent on slaves as other parts of the South, it was able to recover more quickly. The culture in Texas during the later 19th century exhibited many facets of

7107-406: The fields for much better-paying war jobs, never to return to agriculture. Texas manufactured 3.1 percent of total United States military armaments produced during World War II, ranking eleventh among the 48 states. Texas modernized and expanded its system of higher education through the 1960s. The state created a comprehensive plan for higher education, funded in large part by oil revenues, and

7210-471: The fighting in Texas. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ended the two-year war. In return for US$ 18,250,000, Mexico gave the U.S. undisputed control of Texas, ceded the Mexican Cession in 1848, most of which today is called the American Southwest, and Texas's borders were established at the Rio Grande. The Compromise of 1850 set Texas's boundaries at their present position: Texas ceded its claims to land which later became half of present-day New Mexico ,

7313-435: The first Europeans in what is now Texas. Cabeza de Vaca reported that in 1528, when the Spanish landed in the area, "half the natives died from a disease of the bowels and blamed us." Cabeza de Vaca also made observations about the way of life of the Ignaces Natives of Texas. Francisco Vázquez de Coronado described another encounter with native people in 1541. The expedition of Hernando de Soto entered into Texas from

7416-485: The first prolonged period in its history. As a result, the prominence of Spiral Jetty has risen dramatically over the past decade, increasing both the visitorship to the site and the public's interest in the artwork, at the local, national, and international levels. Dia is committed to maintaining a photographic record of the work and documenting changes to the piece over time. Dia collaborates with two organizations in Utah,

7519-465: The form of the spiral to imitate the settlers' mythic whirlpool, Smithson incorporates the existence of the myth into the space of the work. In doing so, he expands on the nature of that external space located at our bodies' centers, which had been part of the Double Negative's image. Smithson creates an image of our psychological response to time and of the way we are determined to control it by

7622-580: The formal political process. The number of voters dropped dramatically, and the Democrats crushed competition from the Republican and Populist parties. The Socialist Party became the second-largest party in Texas after 1912, coinciding with a large socialist upsurge in the United States during fierce battles in the labor movement and the popularity of national heroes like Eugene V. Debs . The socialists' popularity soon waned after their vilification by

7725-451: The jetty, Smithson incorporates footage of dinosaurs in a natural history museum and the ripped pages from a history text. During this scene, Smithson refers to the institutions of history: "the earth's history seems at times like a story recorded in a book, each page of which is torn into small pieces. Many of the pages and some of the pieces of each page are missing". Smithson's narrative supports an alternative view of historical discourse and

7828-529: The lake, though due to the drying of the lake, as of 2022 a mile of lakebed separates Spiral Jetty from the shore. Depending upon the water level of the Great Salt Lake, the sculpture is sometimes visible and sometimes submerged. Smithson reportedly chose the Rozel Point site based on the blood-red color of the water and its connection with the primordial sea . The red hue of the water is due to

7931-430: The lake. It is reported that Smithson had a difficult time convincing a contractor to accept the unusual proposal. Spiral Jetty was the first of his pieces to require the acquisition of land rights and earthmoving equipment. Phillips often told people that his best-known construction job was "the only thing I ever built that ... was to look at and had no purpose". Phillips described the use of earth-moving equipment along

8034-420: The lakeside as "tricky", and said of Smithson that "I don't think he had done any geology work or anything on it. He just had in his mind what it should look like.... He just had the eye for it. I assume it was the artist in him." Work began on the jetty in April 1970. The work was constructed twice; the first time requiring six days. After contemplating the result for two days, Smithson called the crew back and had

8137-500: The mid-20th century. As of 2022 , it has the most Fortune 500 company headquarters (53) in the United States. With a growing base of industry, the state leads in many industries, including tourism , agriculture , petrochemicals , energy , computers and electronics , aerospace , and biomedical sciences . Texas has led the U.S. in state export revenue since 2002 and has the second-highest gross state product . The Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex and Greater Houston areas are

8240-697: The movement of most Native populations north into what would become Indian Territory (modern Oklahoma). Only the Alabama-Coushatta would remain in the parts of Texas subject to white settlement, though the Comanche would continue to control most of the western half of the state until their defeat in the 1870s and 1880s. The first historical document related to Texas was a map of the Gulf Coast , created in 1519 by Spanish explorer Alonso Álvarez de Pineda . Nine years later, shipwrecked Spanish explorer Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca and his cohort became

8343-565: The nation's fourth and fifth-most populous urban regions respectively. Its capital city is Austin . Due to its size and geologic features such as the Balcones Fault , Texas contains diverse landscapes common to both the U.S. Southern and the Southwestern regions . Most population centers are in areas of former prairies , grasslands , forests, and the coastline . Traveling from east to west, terrain ranges from coastal swamps and piney woods , to rolling plains and rugged hills, to

8446-542: The newly created Confederate States of America on March 4, 1861, ratifying the permanent C.S. Constitution on March 23. Not all Texans favored secession initially, although many of the same would later support the Southern cause. Texas's most notable Unionist was the state governor, Sam Houston . Not wanting to aggravate the situation, Houston refused two offers from President Lincoln for Union troops to keep him in office. After refusing to swear an oath of allegiance to

8549-573: The north or east during the colonial period, such as the Choctaw , Alabama-Coushatta, and Delaware . The region was primarily controlled by the Spanish until the Texas Revolution . They were most interested in relationships with the Caddo, who were—like the Spanish—a settled, agricultural people. Several Spanish missions were opened in Caddo territory, but a lack of interest in Christianity among

8652-513: The object itself when all that remains are these representations? Additionally, the disappearance of thousands of tons of stone and soil raises the challenge of accounting for such a massive fact. Lunberry continues: Then, looking into our own desiring eyes, we may begin to wonder if the issue of seeing itself - the Spiral Jetty' s appearance or disappearance, its ontology as an object or an image - has finally proven itself to be far more intricate and involved than initially imagined. If Henri Bergson

8755-488: The plan, most of them opposing the drilling. The year 2009 marked a collaboration between Dia and the Getty Conservation Institute, with the objective of creating a repeat photography system. This system was specifically designed to document the evolving changes taking place at the Spiral Jetty site and to closely monitor it for any conservation requirements. Starting in late 2016, Dia initiated

8858-490: The port at Galveston as commerce expanded. The lumber industry quickly expanded and was Texas' largest industry prior to the 20th century. In 1900, Texas suffered the deadliest natural disaster in U.S. history during the Galveston hurricane . On January 10, 1901, the first major oil well in Texas, Spindletop , was found south of Beaumont . Other fields were later discovered nearby in East Texas , West Texas , and under

8961-489: The practice of sharing aerial photographs of Spiral Jetty , captured twice a year since 2012. These photographs were taken from nearly identical vantage points as part of Dia's dedication to documenting the evolving changes of the artwork over time through photographic records. The issue of preservation has been complicated by ambiguous statements by Smithson, who expressed an admiration for entropy in that he intended his works to mimic earthly attributes in that they remain in

9064-527: The presence of salt-tolerant bacteria and algae that thrive in the extreme 27 percent salinity of the lake's north arm, which was isolated from freshwater sources by the building of a causeway by the Southern Pacific Railroad in 1959. Smithson was reportedly attracted to the Rozel Point site because of the stark anti-pastoral beauty and industrial remnants from nearby Golden Spike National Historic Site , as well as an old pier and

9167-436: The primary connection between the object and its state of being forgotten. Smithson's conceptual framework, centered around the concepts of temporality and entropy, emphasized the dynamic and destructive elements at play, often referencing the gradual decline and disintegration of the artwork. Through his essays and interviews, the artist articulated his awareness of these forces at work within his artistic practice. Borrowing from

9270-500: The sculpture. Preservation efforts for Spiral Jetty face considerable challenges due to the remote location of the site and its vulnerability to natural environmental conditions. These challenges are exacerbated by the impacts of climate change and increased tourism activity. At the time Dia acquired Spiral Jetty , the work was fully submerged in the lake. Beginning in the early 2000s, however, sustained drought in Utah caused water levels to recede, and Spiral Jetty became visible for

9373-429: The settlers. Prior treaties with the Spanish forbade either side from militarizing its native population in any potential conflict between the two nations. Several outbreaks of violence between Native Americans and Texans started to spread in the prelude to the Texas Revolution. Texans accused tribes of stealing livestock. While no proof was found, those in charge of Texas at the time attempted to publicly blame and punish

9476-570: The shape altered to its present configuration, an effort requiring moving 7,000 tons of basalt rock during an additional three days. Phillips' son appeared on the PBS Antiques Roadshow program in 2017 with a photograph and collection of documents related to the building of the project. The sculpture was financed in part by a $ 9,000 USD grant from the Virginia Dwan Gallery of New York . In 1999, Spiral Jetty

9579-583: The state, as well as most of the Southeastern and Midwestern United States. Historically high power usage across the state caused the state's power grid to become overworked and ERCOT (the main operator of the Texas Interconnection grid) declared an emergency and began to implement rolling blackouts across Texas, causing a power crisis . Over 3 million Texans were without power and over 4 million were under boil-water notices. Texas

9682-463: The term entropy , Smithson indicated that the earthworks were "suggestions of sites external to the gallery situation". In his 1970 interview, Smithson mentioned his interest in working on raw materials with abstract geometrical forms. The ephemeral material changes the properties of the artwork over time, which could be regarded as process-oriented art. In the end, it "dramatizes the sense of context and discontext". With spiraling screw dislocation in

9785-407: The unexpected submersion in 1972, Spiral Jetty has become known through its wide circulation of photographs. Scholars such as Roland Barthes , Walter Benjamin and Henri Bergson frequently debated the issue of timelessness and the fixation of its photographs and multiple referents as signifiers without the signified . Since the 1960s, the notion of life as a multi-formed complexity has challenged

9888-402: The vanished earthwork, raise the form once and for all from out of the waters that both reflect and conceal the Spiral Jetty , affirm and deny its place upon the lake. The disappearance of the earthwork raises perplexing questions about the significance and impact of its material absence. The photographs, the essay, and the film become intertwined with the submerged earthwork, but what happens to

9991-402: The very first time, I was deeply aware of the fact that neither my on-site experience nor the descriptions that I was familiar with, both old and new, were self-sufficient or even clearly distinct. As time has passed since the completion of the Spiral Jetty , the photographs have become the most accessible and vivid remnants of the artwork. However, they no longer serve as helpful maps leading to

10094-430: The work itself does not meet the legal standard for copyrightable material, which in the United States includes the stipulation that a work must be "fixed" in a "tangible medium." While Spiral Jetty was created in a tangible medium, its inherent physical composition — piles of dirt, rocks, and salt that are subject to the erosive forces of the Great Salt Lake — means it is not fixed: "This lack of fixed form problematizes

10197-406: The work, Dia asks that visitors not take existing rocks from the artwork, make fire pits, or trample vegetation. There are no facilities at the site, so visitors must carry any waste away with them. The sculpture is built of mud, precipitated salt crystals, and basalt rocks. It forms a 1,500-foot-long (460 m), 15-foot-wide (4.6 m) counterclockwise coil originally jutting from the shore of

10300-534: The work’s intellectual property protection. The heart of the work — the idea that it presents made manifest through an ephemeral environmental intervention — cannot be protected based on the guidelines provided under the Copyright Act." Dia can and does claim copyright over images of Spiral Jetty created by the foundation. However, due to the physical work's lack of copyright protection, visitors do not need permission to create or publish their own photographs of

10403-460: Was captured twice and Texans were defeated in battle in the Dawson massacre . Despite these successes, Mexico did not keep an occupying force in Texas, and the republic survived. The cotton price crash of the 1840s depressed the country's economy. Texas was finally annexed when the expansionist James K. Polk won the election of 1844 . On December 29, 1845, the U.S. Congress admitted Texas to

10506-572: Was donated to Dia. As owner and custodian of Spiral Jetty , the foundation maintains the lease from the Utah Division of Forestry, Fire & State Lands of state sovereign lands in Great Salt Lake upon which the artwork is sited. Smithson died in a plane crash in Texas three years after finishing the Spiral Jetty . Dia, along with the Holt/Smithson Foundation, claim ownership of copyright for Spiral Jetty . However,

10609-539: Was initially rebuffed. This status, and Mexican diplomacy in support of its claims to the territory, also complicated Texas's ability to form foreign alliances and trade relationships. The Comanche Indians furnished the main Native American opposition to the Texas Republic, manifested in multiple raids on settlements . Mexico launched two small expeditions into Texas in 1842. The town of San Antonio

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