Nancy Holt's Sun Tunnels being lifted into place by a crane

Films by Holt and Smithson Screening at Mori Art Museum, Tokyo

Three films by Nancy Holt and Robert Smithson are currently on view at the Mori Art Museum in Tokyo, Japan.

The screening program MAM Screen 017 features three early moving image works from the 1970s by Holt and Smithson, including their collaborative film Swamp (1971)—an experimental work in which Holt attempts to navigate a New Jersey swamp using only the viewfinder of her 16mm Bolex camera and Smithson’s voice as her guides. The other two works on view are Smithson’s landmark film Spiral Jetty (1970), made in conjunction with the earthwork of the same name, and Holt’s 1978 film Sun Tunnels illustrating the process of creating her large scale earthwork in the Great Basin Desert of Utah.

Webinar on Thursday December 1, 2022 at 19:00 JST
Holt/Smithson Foundation Executive Director Lisa Le Feuvre will be giving a talk on Nancy Holt's moving-image works in conjunction with the screening at the Mori Art Museum titled “Learning with Nancy Holt for the Present.” Le Feuvre will be joined by Martin Germann, Adjunct Curator at the Mori Art Museum and curator of the Holt and Smithson screening program. Click here to register for the livestreamed webinar. 

The Holt and Smithson screening program will be on view at the Mori Art Museum through March 26, 2023.

Nancy Holt, Sun Tunnels [still] (1978)
16mm film
Color, sound
Duration: 26 minutes, 31 seconds
© Holt/Smithson Foundation / Licensed by Artists Rights Society, New York
Distributed by Electronic Arts Intermix, New York

Archived News

a constellation of the big dipper made of fire pits

Nancy Holt's Starfire acquired by Powder Art Foundation

We are very pleased to share Nancy Holt’s 1986 sculpture "Starfire" has found a permanent home in the collection of Powder Art Foundation in Eden, Utah. Powder Art Foundation is an outdoor art museum that works closely with Dia Art Foundation. "Starfire" comprises eight pits arranged to mirror the Big Dipper constellation and the North Star. The flames create a terrestrial map of the night sky, bringing the energy of distant stars down to earth.

forthcoming

Holt artworks in "All Light: Light and Space yesterday and today" at Kunsthalle Bielefeld

Light was a constant source of fascination for Nancy Holt throughout her four decades of artmaking. Whether drawn from the stars or powered by electricity, she approached light as a phenomenon, an idea, and a material in itself. Three of her pivotal works investigating the perceptual qualities of light are featured in the exhibition "All Light: Light and Space yesterday and today" at Kunsthalle Bielefeld, Germany.

Robert Smithson looking at the camera from the back of a stationwagon loaded with rocks

Casting a Glance: Dancing with Smithson

In 1968 Robert Smithson declared: “A great artist can make art by simply casting a glance.” On show until January 20, "Casting a Glance: Dancing with Smithson" at Marian Goodman Gallery Los Angeles takes him at his word and invites eighteen artists to join Smithson on the floor as partners who resist, improvise, and extend the rhythm of his thinking.

four steel pipes extending up from the floor with four viewing pipes pointed at four black painted circles on the wall

Holt's "Locators with Loci" on view in "Minimal" at the Bourse de Commerce

Nancy Holt's 1972 sculpture "Locators with Loci" is on view in the exhibition "Minimal" at the Bourse de Commerce, Paris until January 18, 2026. Curated by Jessica Morgan, Director of Dia Art Foundation, the exhibition traces the scope Minimal Arr through over a hundred works by some forty international artists.

a woman walking up a sand dune hill with her back to the camera

Joan Jonas: An Island Departure at the Farnsworth Art Museum

"Joan Jonas: An Island Departure, with Nancy Holt and Robert Smithson"  is currently on show at the Farnsworth Art Museum in Rockland, Maine through to March 1, 2026. This special collaboration is part of our on-ongoing series of projects with artists working today.

A man standing next to a compost heap holding a mirror beside his leg, which reflects a woman holding a camera

Robert Smithson in Europe at Josef Albers Museum Quadrat Bottrop, Germany

"Robert Smithson in Europe" is currently on show at the Josef Albers Museum Quadrat Bottrop,  Germany, until February 22, 2026. The exhibition brings together Robert Smithson’s artistic production in the Netherlands, Italy, Great Britain, and Germany, with a special focus on North Rhine-Westphalia, the region local to the city of Bottrop.