Robert Smithson in Europe

With its upcoming exhibition “Robert Smithson in Europe”, the Josef Albers Museum Quadrat Bottrop presents an influential American artist and important representative of the land art movement. In his theoretical treatises and site-specific works which he created in mining regions, Smithson (1938-1973) explored the tense relationship between art and technology, humans and the environment. The exhibition, organised in cooperation with the Holt/Smithson Foundation in Santa Fe, New Mexico, asks how Smithson’s works can be preserved and restaged – no easy task in view of the distinctive qualities of the original sites. In tours, presentations and talks, international researchers, artists and curators will critically examine Smithson’s work from a contemporary perspective and contribute to recontextualising land art. Interventions in public space are also planned; industrial sites in the Ruhr Region will serve as screening venues featuring Smithson’s land art.

Artistic director: Linda Walther
Participants: Monja Droßmann, Markus Karstieß, Sarah Sandfort, Eva Schmidt

Exhibition: Josef Albers Museum Quadrat Bottrop, Bottrop: 28 Sep. 2025 – 22 Feb. 2026