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A Tour of Monuments of Passaic, New Jersey by Smithson:
MONUMENT (topic-based):
A object erected in commemoration or celebration of a person, event, etc., as enduring evidence or example for others.
An area preserved and maintained with historical significance, beauty, or intrigue for the public.

ENTROPY (descriptive/active):
A general lack or pattern or organization.
A measure of energy that is unavailable to perform work during a closed thermodynamic process.
A measure of chaos within a closed system.
A measure of the loss of information during transmittal.
A uniform temperature throughout the universe, for all matter, regardless of material that results in “heat death”. (A theory was formulated that over time entropy would build up and all motion would eventually cease. For this to occur, if ever, far more time than would impact us as a species would need to go by.)
A doctrine of unavoidable social degradation and inevitable decline.


“The last monument was a sand box or a model desert. Under the dead light of the Passaic afternoon the desert became a map of infinite disintegration and forgetfulness. This monument of minute particles blazed under the bleakly glowing sun, and suggested the sullen dissolution of entire continents, the drying up of oceans—no longer were there green forests and high mountains—all that existed were millions of grains of sand and was a dead metaphor that equaled timelessness and to decipher such metaphors would take one through the false mirror of eternity. This sand box somehow doubled as an open grave—a grave that children cheerfully played in” (Robert Smithson).

Article summary: Passaic.