Wards and Cells

Robert Smithson, "A Heap of Language" (1966); pencil on paper, 6.5" x 22"
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"Artists themselves are not confined, but their output is. Museums, like asylums and jails, have wards and cells -- in other words, neutral rooms called 'galleries.' A work of art when placed in a gallery loses its charge, and becomes a portable object or surface disengaged from the outside world."
~ Robert Smithson (1938-1973), from "Cultural Confinement"

Link:
Robert Smithson website