Photographs, collage, and ink on foam core
20 3/8 x 30 3/8 x 1 3/8 in. (51.8 x 77.2 x 3.5 cm)
© Holt/Smithson Foundation / Licensed by Artists Rights Society, New York
Crossed Locators (1972) is part of Nancy Holt’s Locators, sculptural works that function as viewing devices. This collage uses photographs from the first presentation of Crossed Locators in the group exhibition Recent Work: Power Boothe, Peter Downsbrough, Nancy Holt, Clark Murray, Jim Reineking at 10 Bleecker Street in New York, an experimental exhibition space associated with the Institute for Art and Urban Resources, an organization founded by Alanna Heiss to support contemporary art practices outside traditional museum contexts. Combing the images with text, here she sets the protocols for the artwork to be exhibited in other locations.
Composed of upright steel pipes fitted with short horizontal elements, the work directs and intersects sightlines across the exhibition space. Crossed Locators frames the surrounding environment, foregrounding awareness of position, orientation, and the act of looking itself. Holt also presented the audio work Visual Sound Zone: 10 Bleecker St. Corner in this exhibition.