Friday Films: Season Four—Florida Films

In May of 1971 Robert Smithson and Nancy Holt returned to Florida to visit the Florida Keys, with Smithson seeking potential locations for his Island Maze and Forking Island. While these hypothetical earthworks exist today solely through Smithson's drawings, on this trip Smithson did plant an earthwork he called Mangrove Ring—which is also the subject of a short film of the same name by Nancy Holt. 

Smithson described Mangrove Ring in 1971 interview: "On Summerland Key, near Key West, I found a shallow lagoon where I built two, five foot wide islands and planted a 100 foot wide ring of mangrove seedlings. The mangrove ring was made by planting seedlings into sediment deposits in cracks in the rocky bottom of the lagoon. Mangrove seedlings are supposed to take root almost immediately.[...] Mangroves are called island-makers because they catch sediment in their spidery roots."

This weekend we are hosting a special Florida Friday Film series highlighting the three films Nancy Holt made on this 1971 trip to Florida. All three films are short and silent meditations on place. 

In addition to Mangrove Ring, Holt shot the film Garden of Nets on this trip—a dreamlike tour through a sun-drenched garden covered by a canopy of nets. The last short film in this Friday Film series is Road to Nowhere, which is a three minute walk down a meandering coastal road, shot from Holt's perspective. 

Click the links below to watch each film:

Nancy Holt, Mangrove Ring (1971) 16mm film Color, sound Duration: 2 minutes 57 seconds

Nancy Holt, Garden of Nets (1971) 16mm film Color, silent Duration: 2 minutes, 56 seconds

Nancy Holt, Road to Nowhere (1971) 16mm film Color, Silent Duration: 2 minutes, 57 seconds

All three films will be available to stream online until 12pm Mountain Time on Monday December 9.