Films by Holt and Smithson on view at The Museum of Modern Art
We are pleased to share that three films by Nancy Holt and Robert Smithson are currently on view at The Museum of Modern Art, New York, in collection gallery 411 of the David Geffen Wing.
This presentation focuses on Spiral Jetty (1970), Swamp (1971), and Sun Tunnels (1978). Newly restored scans of the first two works are presented as part of a collaboration between Holt/Smithson Foundation and MoMA to preserve their moving-image work.
The moving image was a significant medium for Holt. Her films include Utah Sequences (1970) and Pine Barrens (1975); her videos include Going Around in Circles (1973) and Revolve; and she made one video sculpture, Points of View (1974). In addition to Swamp, she co-authored East Coast/West Coast (1969) and Mono Lake (1968/2004) with Smithson.
Both popular and artists’ film were important to Smithson: he developed several film ideas in drawings for movie treatments, and in his writings he frequently referred to cinema, noting an interest in low-budget science-fiction films associated with directors such as Roger Corman, the experimental film culture surrounding figures like Kenneth Anger, the structural films of Hollis Frampton, and the landscapes of Michelangelo Antonioni.
Robert Smithson, Spiral Jetty [still] (1970)
16 mm film
Color, sound
Duration: 35 minutes
© Holt/Smithson Foundation / Licensed by Artists Rights Society, New York.
