On Wednesday 10 September 2025, Land Art Lives and partners* organised From Dawn till Dusk, an online encounter of two earthworks by Robert Smithson (episode 2). From 2 p.m, which was 6 a.m. Mountain Time in America, we broadcast from Spiral Jetty (1970) in Utah and Broken Circle/Spiral Hill (1971) in Emmen. We followed these two iconic artworks by Robert Smithson from first light in Utah (Dawn) until it was pitch dark in Emmen (Dusk) at 9 p.m. (13.00pm Mountain Time).

We heard the rustling of the wind and the crickets in Utah and the honking geese in the sand quarry in Emmen. We saw the light slowly brighten at Spiral Jetty, the shadows shift, colours change and slowly darken at Broken Circle/Spiral Hill. We followed both works for seven hours. Mostly in silence, with short recitations from Robert Smithson's work by students from the Land Arts of the American West programme (Anika Todd, Dominika Wilk, Elle Wolfley, Amy Chender, Joey Grimm, Jennifer Seas, Skylar Perez, Miles Matis-Uzzo, Francess Archer Dunbar, Natalie Marshall, James Warren) and Martine van Kampen (Land Art Flevoland) or thoughts expressed about the role of water in Smithson's work (Chris Taylor and Anne Reenders). Later in the day, artists Maira Kalman in Utah and Jan Rothuizen in Emmen shared their observations with us. The broadcast ended at 9 p.m. sharp.

Viewers from all over the world followed the live stream. Some watched for a few minutes, others for hours on end. There were 700 viewers in total, most of them online, with visitors to the Kröller-Müller Museum in Otterlo and the Utah Museum of Fine Arts in Salt Lake City also watching.

Scroll through the stills of the livestream and read on for viewers' reactions.

Viewer reactions to the live stream

Best birthday gift eva! (Instagram post from the USA)

“Great that it went well this time. I thought it was fantastic, also the variety of moving images. I was in Emmen again today. I enjoyed it, also the 'making of' on Instagram, very professional!' (Henk Nieman, born in Emmen, lives and works in Brazil)

'From Passignano sul Trasimeno, we followed the special livestream From Dawn till Dusk. Recently, we had the opportunity to visit Broken Circle/Spiral Hill. For us, it was a long-cherished wish and a special experience. We visited Spiral Jetty twice. [....]. Good luck today and thank you for this wonderful initiative'. (Two residents of Almere, in the Netherlands)

'At the end of the Dutch day, I was able to click on the link. Unexpected beauty alongside and with each other. [...] The two works, rare arrangements in the landscape with a sensitive natural tone, formed by human hands. One long, stretched out like a fern top, the other smaller, almost intimate. Meditatively resting in the world. Which we often build up in such an angular and hard way. I thought it was beautiful. Thank you. (response via email from the Netherlands)

It's been wonderful. Thank you so much (Instagram response from the USA)

Making of

Scroll below through behind-the-scenes images.

* Partners

From Dawn till Dusk (episode 2) is a co-production between Land Art Lives and Land Art Contemporary in the Netherlands, and Land Art of the American West (Texas Tech University) and Holt/Smithson Foundation in the United States of America. The livestream was also directly broadcasted at Utah Museum of Fine Arts, Salt Lake City, USA and Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo, the Netherlands

Thanks

We would like to thank our partners and everyone who made this livestream possible, with special thanks to Chris Taylor and his students, the owners of the area in Emmen who gave us permission to do this, Melle Muurling and Henk Nieman from Emmen, and Rick Dijkman from Stage_Rickording, Roman Hageman, Smid Broadcast and crew for a technically perfect livestream.