Land Art: Sun Tunnels, Nancy Holt
Like her husband’s “Spiral Jetty”, Nancy Holt’s “Sun Tunnels” is also located in an impressive and beautifully desolate location in Utah. But Holt’s work differs dramatically from Smithson’s. Requiring no excavation or alteration of the earth, Holt’s work is constructed of concrete, not the earth itself, and is not designed to erode and fade away like Smithson’s Jetty. Instead, Holt’s work fixates on things more permanent - the horizon, the stars, the summer and winter solstices. It is about vast spaces and vast amounts of time, an enduring work that draws not just on the earth, but on the entire natural environment. In this way, it’s scale makes Smithson’s jetty feel puny in comparison.
©Holt/Smithson Foundation and Dia Art Foundation, licensed by VAGA, New York.
The work is simple yet intricately complex in its execution. The four concrete cylinders are laid out in the desert, each cylinder with precise holes drilled into it in the shape of constellations. When the sun shines, the constellations are thrown on to the floor below and the viewer can simultaneously stare at the framed mountains on the horizon while also walking in the stars.
Holt’s work is quintessentially land art, regardless of the material used to construct it and its lack of overt environmentalism. The concrete cylinders are there to direct the gaze, to draw attention to the beauty of the natural space - and to do so at a particular time. The cylinders were painstakingly arranged in a cross to perfectly frame the sun over the mountains on the winter and summer solstices; the holes in the concrete are drilled in such a way to draw our attention to the stars even during the day time. Holt’s work provides a lens and a guide to experience the beauty of the desert. The land is the art; Holt’s piece merely helps you appreciate it.
©Holt/Smithson Foundation and Dia Art Foundation/Licensed by VAGA at ARS, New York. Courtesy of the Holt/Smithson Foundation.
For a closer look, take five minutes to watch the video below, though be warned that the soundtrack is without question the worst possible match for the visuals. Though I suppose our electroclash mix from last week would have been just as jarring…