Latest news with #RobertSmithson
New York Times
08-07-2025
- New York Times
What's to Love About the New Jersey Turnpike? Everything.
Like many who grew up in the Northeast, I rarely thought about the New Jersey Turnpike, other than to joke about its ugliness. When I was a kid, the turnpike felt synonymous with the nothingness and boredom of New Jersey — a 'nonsite,' as the artist Robert Smithson once called it. The turnpike, an express toll road covering 117 miles, connects some of the state's suburbs to New York, Philadelphia and other major cities on a gargantuan concrete highway. When completed in 1951, it was celebrated as a marvel of engineering, the third-longest of its kind in the United States, and academics called it 'the embodiment of American pragmatism.' This pragmatism can end up having comic effects. What is one supposed to make of a rest stop populated by a Starbucks and Popeyes and named for Walt Whitman? Why is the road managed by an entity ominously named 'the authority,' as if it were an alien or a paramilitary organization? I remember an urban legend going around my high school, that the New Jersey Turnpike Authority was a secret government plot to turn all of New Jersey into turnpike. But the more time you spend on this highway, the more otherworldly it does feel. The turnpike's tollbooths heighten your expectations from the start. Payment of the fee then grants you access to a long, flat amusement park, which funnels you into a dizzying number of random worlds along its spine. I've taken wrong turns and ended up wandering through Little India, on Oak Tree Road off Exit 11, or Newark's Brazilian neighborhood off Exit 15E. These immigrant enclaves are not far from the ludicrously named American Dream Mall, off Exit 16W. All roads go from one place to another, but some do much more, transforming riders as well as transporting them. As a kid, I most dreaded taking Exit 8 to Manalapan. At home in Richboro, I was a regular American teenager, but after just 40 minutes on the highway, I was a Burmese child at the Manalapan Buddhist Temple, being poked and prodded by my relatives, sneaking glances at the clock in meditation sessions. When I graduated from college in Princeton, we took Exit 9 and ate at Wonder Seafood in Edison, and it was like taking a portal to the south of China. Though college was supposed to be a melting pot, it was the turnpike that flung me into true diversity. Now, when I go from my parents' home to mine in Brooklyn, I travel through its most famously hideous portion: a 33-mile strip flanked by the flames of oil refineries on one side and giant shipping crates on another. The ugly, raw vistas usher me out of suburbia, quickly turning me from my parents' baby into a taxpaying adult — as if the refineries also refine me. Could Robert Smithson's 'nonsite' have been a compliment rather than a criticism? In 1951, the sculptor and painter Tony Smith took a joyride down the not-yet-completed turnpike, and as he flew down the dark, abstract asphalt, that liminal road 'did something for me that art had never done,' he later told Artforum. 'Its effect was to liberate me from many of the views I had about art.' Afterward, he began making the terse metal sculptures for which he's best known, beginning the North American minimalism movement. The highway's ability to warp and transform people has even been honored in fiction: In the cult-classic movie 'Being John Malkovich,' the main character continually tumbles through Malkovich's brain, spat out afterward into a ditch along the turnpike — a detail that inspired the real-life town of Elizabeth to proudly erect a tourist destination near its Exit 13A off-ramp. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Fashion Network
26-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Fashion Network
Etudes Studio: Land Art and collaborative work at the Palais de Tokyo
On Tuesday, Etudes Studio returned to runway format to present its spring-summer 2026 collection. Inspired by the creators of the Land Art movement of the '70s, "Surroundings" takes as its reference the gigantic creations of the couple Nancy Holt and Robert Smithson, whose playground was the desert spaces of Utah in the center of the United States. See catwalk In the summer heat of the Palais de Tokyo, the models embarked on a spiral path composed by the audience, reminiscent of the ephemeral work "Spiral Jetty" installed on the Great Salt Lake by Robert Smithson. In a forest of heterogeneous percussion instruments, opposite such luminaries of the French music scene as Orelsan, dressed in an Etudes top, Ed Banger and Woodkid, artist Amélie Grould, dressed in a white engineering smock, made strange cymbals whirr. It's to this muffled sound, like distant thunder, that the young men of Etudes studio embarked. Ready to traverse the great plains of Utah, equipped with his high leather boots, a peroxide-blond young man, his hair in disarray, advanced with his rebel boy scout outfit, dressed in a flowing, oversized chocolate overshirt open over a cream T-shirt and loose shorts falling above the knee. For this season, the French brand continues to experiment with tailoring, streetwear, and workwear, exploring a desert-like color palette of ochre, sand, and deep brown, as well as lots of black. Imposing pieces such as heavy-weight cotton jeans, loose-fitting jackets, and gabardine were deeply dyed or given special treatments to evoke the variations of desert soil as seen from the sky. As on this ensemble, treated with a worn effect in purplish tones marked by almost marbled nuances. See catwalk The oversized jacket, with its ultra-long sleeves, widened hems, visible seams, and patch pockets, was paired with loose pants that fell over smooth brown leather boots by La Botte Gardiane. The ensemble was worn over a jersey second skin that rises like a balaclava, adding a futuristic touch to the workwear silhouette, enhanced by streamlined Oakley sunglasses. Workwear codes are deepened, here with oversized zips running across wide pants, or diverted, when large patch pockets sit on an ochre sleeveless jacket in technical material, worn over a tone-on-tone knit sweater. Satin-finish bombers, denim with turned-up seams, and oversized trucker jackets completed the look. Touches that could also be found on more urban, flowing pieces. With detailed work on the shirt: "We work by adjusting our proposal from one season to the next," Jérémie Egry told "We're committed to the notion of French elegance. So we've worked on shirts, with shirts with patch pockets on the chest, hooded shirts, long shirts, wide shirts, Cuban collars, and blouses in very fluid and interesting materials. And we combine them with pants in the same mainly natural or recycled materials. This makes for very wearable pieces in summer, with a rather wide fall, which we appreciate". See catwalk Like this brown hooded jumpsuit with cream stripes in satin cotton, paired with a pair of paraboot boots. A pair of leather gloves by Acaba Gantier intrigued in this silhouette, while a thin, extra-long, tonal leather belt loosely encircled the waist, more in a stylized gesture than a functional one. The show signature was successfully repeated in several tailoring looks, with a palette ranging from cream to deep blue to mousey gray. Here, too, the cuts were ample and the details were nods to the outdoors, with the use of technical materials to interpret classic pieces, but also a street or alternative spirit, such as loose pockets on a classic shirt or Cristina Junquero's silver jewelry that countered a more formal silhouette. Among the 26 looks presented, Jérémie Egry and Aurélien Arbet also let loose a collaboration with U.S.-based South Korean artist, Maia Ruth Lee. "She's an artist we've known for years," explained the duo. "But the Land Art theme of the collection lent itself to a collaboration. Her works are created in three stages. She creates 'Bondage Baggage', textiles wrapped in wire, which she dabs with paint. Then she unfolds them, creating a kind of imaginary map. And these are the two pieces we chose to print on our clothes." Two colorful looks in red, black, and blue on white, reinterpreting one of the Colorado-based artist's works, rounded off the show. A major show for Etudes Studio. The brand had been carried for over 10 years by a trio. José Lamali left the adventure at the beginning of the year, after the team had redefined the brand platform in early 2024. For Etudes Studio, which has reorganized, this season's show was also intended to affirm the label's liveliness with international buyers and the market, and set it down in time. See catwalk "With Aurélien, we founded Etudes in 2012 with the desire to mix art and fashion. And it's this vision that season after season we maintain and, above all, refine. Being two today, the circuit is a little shorter, the development work is more direct. Even if last season's 2:30 performance was important for us, it was key to get back on track with a collection we're very proud of." Confirming the company's strong ambitions and the support of its investors, Egry, wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with the slogan: "Alternatives are possible," was greeted by applause. With 80 retailers worldwide, the independent French brand is determined to prove its worth.
