Eight galvanized steel pipes, concrete foundations
Circle of Locators: diam. 40 ft. (12.2 m); Locators: height 60 in. (152 cm); length 12 in. (31 cm); diameter 2 in. (5 cm) each
Collection Holt/Smithson Foundation
© Holt/Smithson Foundation / Licensed by Artists Rights Society, New York
Missoula Ranch Locators - Vision Encompassed (1972) by Nancy Holt is a site-responsive sculpture first presented on ranchland near Missoula, Montana. Eight Locators, T-shaped structures made from galvanized steel, are arranged in a circular formation and aligned with the compass directions. Looking outward, each Locator frames a circular view of the surrounding landscape, guiding the viewer’s gaze toward mountains, sky, and plains. Looking inward, the Locators face each other. The sculpture was dismantled in 2003, and can be reinstalled on a site that, in Holt’s words, has “vast, sweeping views.”
In the accompanying film of the same title, Holt shows people looking through the Locators and the views framed by the circular apertures. On the poster she designed for the work—seen in the carousel above—Holt indicates that the diameter of the circle is 40 feet, with a distance of vision stretching from 10 feet to 150 miles.
