Installed in the shared studio space of Nancy Holt and Robert Smithson's loft in New York City, Locator (Studio Corner) is one of the earliest Locator works that Holt created, and the first that solely engaged interior space. In contrast to other early Locator works that Holt created in her studio—which concentrated vision on preexisting details in the built environment outside Holt's studio window—Locator (Studio Corner) focuses vision on a black shape that Holt painted in the corner of the room.

Holt’s Locators indicate some of the key concepts behind her renowned earthworks. A simple structure made from a horizontal steel pipe mounted at eye-level, the locator is a telescope of sorts, without a lens. It can be looked through from either end, so that the viewer observes both points of their once-held perspective—a concept with which Holt is continuously fascinated. The Locator frames a particular view in space, which restricts the subject’s perspective while at the same time, facilitates a private, solitary experience.

In 1971 Holt created the first of her Locators, sculptural “seeing devices” drawing attention to visual perception and place. The Locators developed out of Holt’s interest in the circularity of photography and are simple constructions made from industrial pipes welded into a T-shape, to be looked through with one eye. Holt created her first Locators looking out the windows of her studio in the West Village onto details of the built environment, such as a