"[This work] explores the interplay between permanence and impermanence in cultural and artistic practices in the West and elsewhere ... [and] addresses particularly crucial artists, including Robert Smithson and Andy Goldsworthy, as well as a wide variety of historical epochs and cultures, from the destroyed Buddhas at Bamiyan through attempts at preservation and commemoration in the wake of historical catastrophes like 9/11 and the genocide in Cambodia to the current trend toward globalization in contemporary art."--Publisher's description.