Nancy Holt, 30 Below (1979)

Commissioned for the 1980 Winter Olympics, Lake Placid, New York, USA

10,000 molded red bricks, grass, earth

Overall dimensions: height: 30 ft.(9.1 m); diameter: 9 ft. 4 in. (2.8 m)

a field with a tall circular brick structure with round arched windows

Nancy Holt, 30 Below (1979)

Commissioned for the 1980 Winter Olympics, Lake Placid, New York, USA

10,000 molded red bricks, grass, earth

Overall dimensions: height: 30 ft.(9.1 m); diameter: 9 ft. 4 in. (2.8 m)

Nancy Holt, 30 Below (1979)

Commissioned for the 1980 Winter Olympics, Lake Placid, New York, USA

10,000 molded red bricks, grass, earth

Overall dimensions: height: 30 ft.(9.1 m); diameter: 9 ft. 4 in. (2.8 m)

Nancy Holt, 30 Below (1979)

Commissioned for the 1980 Winter Olympics, Lake Placid, New York, USA

10,000 molded red bricks, grass, earth

Overall dimensions: height: 30 ft.(9.1 m); diameter: 9 ft. 4 in. (2.8 m)

Nancy Holt, 30 Below (1979)

Commissioned for the 1980 Winter Olympics, Lake Placid, New York, USA

10,000 molded red bricks, grass, earth

Overall dimensions: height: 30 ft.(9.1 m); diameter: 9 ft. 4 in. (2.8 m)

a figure peering into a window of a tall circular brick structure with round arched windows

Nancy Holt, 30 Below (1979)

Commissioned for the 1980 Winter Olympics, Lake Placid, New York, USA

10,000 molded red bricks, grass, earth

Overall dimensions: height: 30 ft.(9.1 m); diameter: 9 ft. 4 in. (2.8 m)

Nancy Holt, 30 Below (detail) (1979)

Commissioned for the 1980 Winter Olympics, Lake Placid, New York, USA

10,000 molded red bricks, grass, earth

Overall dimensions: height: 30 ft.(9.1 m); diameter: 9 ft. 4 in. (2.8 m)

Interior view of a tall circular brick structure with a circular oculus at the top

Nancy Holt, 30 Below (detail) (1979)

Commissioned for the 1980 Winter Olympics, Lake Placid, New York, USA

10,000 molded red bricks, grass, earth

Overall dimensions: height: 30 ft.(9.1 m); diameter: 9 ft. 4 in. (2.8 m)

Nancy Holt, 30 Below [detail] (1979)

Commissioned for the 1980 Winter Olympics, Lake Placid, New York, USA

10,000 molded red bricks, grass, earth

Overall dimensions: height: 30 ft.(9.1 m); diameter: 9 ft. 4 in. (2.8 m)

looking through two oval shaped windows in a brick structure

Nancy Holt, 30 Below [detail] (1979)

Commissioned for the 1980 Winter Olympics, Lake Placid, New York, USA

10,000 molded red bricks, grass, earth

Overall dimensions: height: 30 ft.(9.1 m); diameter: 9 ft. 4 in. (2.8 m)

Nancy Holt, 30 Below [detail] (1979)

Commissioned for the 1980 Winter Olympics, Lake Placid, New York, USA

10,000 molded red bricks, grass, earth

Overall dimensions: height: 30 ft.(9.1 m); diameter: 9 ft. 4 in. (2.8 m)

Nancy Holt, 30 Below [detail] (1979)

Commissioned for the 1980 Winter Olympics, Lake Placid, New York, USA

10,000 molded red bricks, grass, earth

Overall dimensions: height: 30 ft.(9.1 m); diameter: 9 ft. 4 in. (2.8 m)

Nancy Holt, 30 Below [detail] (1979)

Commissioned for the 1980 Winter Olympics, Lake Placid, New York, USA

10,000 molded red bricks, grass, earth

Overall dimensions: height: 30 ft.(9.1 m); diameter: 9 ft. 4 in. (2.8 m)

round and oval windows looking out onto a blue sky with white clouds

Nancy Holt, 30 Below [detail] (1979)

Commissioned for the 1980 Winter Olympics, Lake Placid, New York, USA

10,000 molded red bricks, grass, earth

Overall dimensions: height: 30 ft.(9.1 m); diameter: 9 ft. 4 in. (2.8 m)

Surveying the site for 30 Below by Nancy Holt (1979)

two figures stand far apart in a green field, looking through surveying equipment

Surveying the site for 30 Below by Nancy Holt (1979)

Preparing the site for 30 Below by Nancy Holt (1979)

a large digging machine digs a square hole in a green grassy field

Preparing the site for 30 Below by Nancy Holt (1979)

Pouring the foundation for 30 Below by Nancy Holt (1979)

pouring concrete out of a chute into a square hole in a green grassy field

Pouring the foundation for 30 Below by Nancy Holt (1979)

Construction image of 30 Below by Nancy Holt (1979)

Construction image of 30 Below by Nancy Holt (1979)

Nancy Holt, 30 Below [construction] (1979)

Commissioned for the 1980 Winter Olympics, Lake Placid, New York, USA

10,000 molded red bricks, grass, earth

Overall dimensions: height: 30 ft.(9.1 m); diameter: 9 ft. 4 in. (2.8 m)

Construction showing scaffolding around a large circular tower made of brick

Nancy Holt, 30 Below [construction] (1979)

Commissioned for the 1980 Winter Olympics, Lake Placid, New York, USA

10,000 molded red bricks, grass, earth

Overall dimensions: height: 30 ft.(9.1 m); diameter: 9 ft. 4 in. (2.8 m)

Nancy Holt, 30 Below (construction) (1979)

Commissioned for the 1980 Winter Olympics, Lake Placid, New York, USA

10,000 molded red bricks, grass, earth

Overall dimensions: height: 30 ft.(9.1 m); diameter: 9 ft. 4 in. (2.8 m)

construction image of scaffolding surrounding a tall circular brick structure

Nancy Holt, 30 Below (construction) (1979)

Commissioned for the 1980 Winter Olympics, Lake Placid, New York, USA

10,000 molded red bricks, grass, earth

Overall dimensions: height: 30 ft.(9.1 m); diameter: 9 ft. 4 in. (2.8 m)

Nancy Holt, 30 Below [construction] (1979)

Commissioned for the 1980 Winter Olympics, Lake Placid, New York, USA

10,000 molded red bricks, grass, earth

Overall dimensions: height: 30 ft.(9.1 m); diameter: 9 ft. 4 in. (2.8 m)

construction of a large cylindrical tower made using brick and two workers piling dirt around the base

Nancy Holt, 30 Below [construction] (1979)

Commissioned for the 1980 Winter Olympics, Lake Placid, New York, USA

10,000 molded red bricks, grass, earth

Overall dimensions: height: 30 ft.(9.1 m); diameter: 9 ft. 4 in. (2.8 m)

Nancy Holt, 30 Below (1979)

Commissioned for the 1980 Winter Olympics, Lake Placid, New York, USA

10,000 molded red bricks, grass, earth

Overall dimensions: height: 30 ft.(9.1 m); diameter: 9 ft. 4 in. (2.8 m)

aerial image looking down on a tall circular brick structure with an open top

Nancy Holt, 30 Below (1979)

Commissioned for the 1980 Winter Olympics, Lake Placid, New York, USA

10,000 molded red bricks, grass, earth

Overall dimensions: height: 30 ft.(9.1 m); diameter: 9 ft. 4 in. (2.8 m)

1977—1980

30 Below

Nancy Holt

1979

Commissioned for the 1980 Winter Olympics, Lake Placid, New York, USA

10,000 molded red bricks, grass, earth

Overall dimensions: height: 30 ft.(9.1 m); diameter: 9 ft. 4 in. (2.8 m)

Commissioned for the 1980 Olympic Winter Games in Lake Placid, New York, 30 Below is a 30-foot, open-ended tower made of 10,000 locally-sourced bricks. The upper openings and arches at the base run north to south, while the side openings run east to west—aligned to the North Star. “I am putting ‘centers of the world’ wherever I go,” Holt stated. 30 Below is both an anchor, grounding perspective along the cardinal directions, and a channel, connecting the subject with unadulterated views of sky. Its formidable structure lends itself to longevity, a testament to Holt’s continual fixation on time and duration.

Writing

Scholarly Text

30 Below

Sarah Hamill

For years growing up, I would drive past Nancy Holt’s 30 Below (1979) wondering how this strange kiln ended up in the middle of an open field off a road that bypasses the town of Lake Placid, a locals’ short cut. The sculpture seems distinctly out of place: its lone red brick tower, punctured with apertures, does not seem at home with its surroundings, neither the small community garden nearby, nor the stand of maple trees that has taken over the field since Holt built the sculpture in 1979, nor the cluster of wooden structures of abolitionist John Brown’s farm nearby, nor even the dense and rugged Adirondack Mountains that surround it. Standing solitary in an open field bordered by forest, Holt’s large-scale sculpture evokes a ruin of another age.

A large sculpture of two concentric circular stone walls with the forest surrounding on the left and grass on the right.

Stone Enclosure: Rock Rings

Nancy Holt

1977-78

Western Washington University

Up and Under

Nancy Holt

1987-98

Pinsiö, Finland

30 Below

Writing

30 Below

See Also