Project Description

My research revisits Holt’s and Smithson’s travels in England and Wales between August 20 and September 30, 1969; places where they spent time, took photographs, and made other forms of art. It aims to establish, as far as is possible, the factual details of their trip in 1969 and to re-encounter, in the spirit of Holt and Smithson, some of the sites they went to, bringing insights through the processes and communication of research, recapturing resonances and characteristic aspects of locations that had a visceral and lasting effect on Holt’s work and thinking.

Biography

Joy Sleeman is an art historian, writer and curator and Professor of Art History and Theory at the Slade School of Fine Art, UCL. Her research is focused on the histories of sculpture and landscape, especially 1960s and 1970s land art. She co-curated Uncommon Ground: Land Art in Britain 1966-1979 (2013-14) and Expanding Painting: Landscape after Land Art, (2022-23); and wrote “Land art and the moon landing” (2009) and “Lawrence Alloway, Robert Smithson and Earthworks” (2015). She is committed to public engagement and developing scholarship and understanding of art related to landscape and environment in public arenas and artistic communities.