Robert Morris and John Cage

In 1967, Robert Smithson and Allan Kaprow recorded a dialogue on the question, What is a museum?l In addition to documenting the artists' views, the conversation is notable for the manner in which it gives evidence of the divide that separated them as representatives of two distinct strands of the postwar neoavant-garde.2 While both artists are critical of the role of the museum, Kaprow condemns it completely and outright, declaring that life cannot exist within such a cultural context without suffering the transformation into an illusory representation of itself. The museal institution as a whole he deems repressive, and consequently Kaprow advocates the relocation of art beyond the confines of the institution, suggesting that it could exist in the marginal zones along roadways or on the outskirts of the city. Kaprow, it seems, fully expects Smithson to agree with his proposal, citing the exploration of such environments as the latter's own idea. Smithson, however, refuses both Kaprow's unequivocal condemnation of the museum and his implicit celebration of the liminal zones of suburbia. He proposes

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