Robert Smithson in Europe

Starting in autumn 2025, the Josef Albers Museum Quadrat Bottrop will present a comprehensive exhibition of the American artist Robert Smithson, who is considered a defining figure of Earth Art in the 1960s and 1970s. The exhibition will highlight Smithson's artistic activities in Europe for the first time, particularly in the Netherlands, Italy, the United Kingdom, and Germany, with a special focus on the Rhineland and the Ruhr area. Among the works on display are "Heerlen Soil and Mirrors," "Essen Soil and Mirrors," and "Chalk-Mirror Displacement" from 1969, as well as works related to "Broken Circle/Spiral Hill" (1971), Smithson's only reclamation project realized in Europe, located in Emmen, Netherlands. Smithson's works address the interactions between humans and nature, as well as industry and the environment. His sculptures and installations from 1969 onwards engage intensively with the geological conditions of the respective locations. Less well known is that Smithson created some of his most significant works in Europe. In 1968/69, he visited the site of the Gutehoffnungshütte in Oberhausen with photographer Bernd Becher and gallery owner Konrad Fischer to collect slag for his works. The exhibition is being realized in cooperation with the Holt/Smithson Foundation and is curated by Markus Karstieß, Dr. Eva Schmidt, and Monja Droßmann. An accompanying catalog in both German and English will deepen the content of the exhibition. This exhibition offers a rare opportunity to experience Smithson's European work in the context of the Ruhr area and to explore his engagement with industrial landscapes and natural processes.