“For the past several years, Smithson has been working on a series of pedestals which bear no sculptures, and a series of hooks upon which nothing hangs. Thus, the auxiliary equipment of art presentation becomes the art itself. By denying their apparent functionality, Smithson’s pedestals and “Technohooks” transcend function to become high art, which is, of course, always useless in a practical sense. And this transformation can only take place precisely because the objects have been denied their utility. Thus they are filled with meaning only by being robbed of this. On the other hand, since they were never actually meant to be functional pedestals and hooks, have they really been denied their function at all? Since they were conceived as works of art, and indeed fulfilling this role exceptionally, they are in fact completely functional - their function being their status as works of art. In the end, what appears at first glance to be entirely simple turns out to be completely and utterly complex.”

 

- Gérard Goodrow, “Strange Science”, Das Glauben, das Wissen, & der Zweifel, Salon Verlag (1997), pgs. 55-56.