NON-OBJECT LESSONS.

"Separate 'things,' 'forms,' 'objects,' 'shapes,' etc., with beginnings and endings are mere convenient fictions," wrote Robert Smithson in these pages in 1968. A number of artists exhibiting this autumn might well endorse his idea. At IVAM Valencia from September 21, 2000, to January 7, 2001, six early works by Michael Craig-Martin, including that elusive non-object An Oak Tree, 1973, will show alongside a new site-specific installation comprising as-yet-undetermined "objects" and those instantly identifiable brightly colored walls. At the Salzburger Kunstverein from October 26 to December 10, a major new project by arch-dematerializer Ann Veronica Janssens will test her own proposal: "In the absence of light it is possible to create the most dear images." An experiment in perception, space, light, and time, the installation will be accompanied by one or more interventions around the city. Up north at the Kunstverein Braunschweig, "Low Slung" will bring together Tom Burr's post-Minimal pieces from the past seven years, featuring works from his exhibition "4znd Street Structures" as well as models, montages, and sculptures that graft issues of architecture, access, and property ownership onto Minimal forms (Sept. 16-Nov. 12). Liam Gillic k goes at the structures that surround and determine us from an equally critical angle. His first major British show, at the Arnolfini, Bristol, UK, will feature his post-Minimal partitions, wall paintings, and a collaborative film (Oct. 8-Dec. 22). And at the Kunsthalle Wien this fall, the spotlight is on Robert Smithson himself. This documentary exhibition will focus on works conceived for the medium of reproduction, including films, photographs, slide lectures, photo-texts, and film drafts (Nov. 24, 2000-Feb. 25, 2001). An accompanying book includes the first-ever German translations of Smithson's texts-an exciting prospect for German-speaking artists and Smithson enthusiasts in general.