steel duct zig zags through the air over a railroad

"Groundswell: Women of Land Art" opens at the Nasher Sculpture Center

This weekend the Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas, Texas launches the exhibition Groundswell: Women of Land Art.  The exhibition features a number of significant works by Nancy Holt, including the first posthumous presentation of Pipeline (1986).

Holt created the System Work Pipeline in response to time spent in Alaska observing the Trans-Alaska Pipeline in 1986 at the invitation of the Visual Arts Center of Alaska. The installation consists of steel duct—meant to evoke the massive pipeline that winds its way through the Alaskan landscape—which here originates outside the front entrance to the Nasher Sculpture Center, snakes through the main entrance gallery, and ultimately terminates in the outdoor sculpture garden. One section of Pipeline drips oil that forms a dark reflective pool, reminding us, as Holt writes, "more frequently than most people realize, breakdowns occur—pipes crack or rust out, oil spills."

In addition to Pipeline, there are several other Holt works on view in Groundswell which illustrates her continued engagement with Land art throughout her life, including previously unexhibited drawings related to Sun Tunnels (1973-76), a scale model for Sun Tunnels, the film Sun Tunnels (1978), and Locator P.S.1 (1980). On view in the downstairs galleries are drawings that relate to Holt's later public projects, including Sky Mound (1984—) and Dark Star Park (1979-84).

Curated by Nasher Associate Curator Dr. Leigh A. Arnold and organized by the Nasher Sculpture Center, Groundswell: Women of Land Art is on view from September 23, 2023 through January 7, 2024. Learn more about the exhibition here.

Nancy Holt, Pipeline [outdoor view] (1986)

Visual Arts Center of Alaska, Anchorage

Steel, oil

Overall Dimensions: 30 x 32 x 15 ft. (9.1 x 9.8 x 4.6 m) (indoor section); 26 x 15 x 6 ft. (7.9 x 4.6 x 1.8 m) (outdoor section #1); 10 x 31 x 18 ft. (3 x 9.5 x 5.5 m) (outdoor section #2)

Steel duct 1 ft. (30.5 cm) diameter

Archived News

a notebook showing calculations for Sun Tunnels

Nancy Holt’s Project Files Digitized at the Archives of American Art

The papers of Nancy Holt and Robert Smithson are held at the Smithsonian Institution's Archives of American Art. Since Holt's papers joined the Archives in 2021, an increasing amount of material has been made accessible to researchers, most recently the Project Files, digitized this year in 2026. This series documents more than 50 projects developed by Holt from the late 1970s to the late 1990s, offering insights into her working processes and the development of her ideas from initial conception through to completion.

poster for Smithson's film Spiral Jetty 1970 cropped

Soft Network Benefit Auction

We are pleased to participate in the Soft Network Benefit Auction, open on Artsy from September 23 until October 7, 2026. The auction brings together works in support of Soft Network and the Artist Foundations and Estate Leaders List (AFELL), an international network for artists and stewards of artists’ estates and legacies. Holt/Smithson Foundation has donated two rare works of art by Nancy Holt and Robert Smithson to the auction to help further this goal. 

Nancy Holt's "Starfire" (1986) as installed at the Powder Art Foundation, Utah, 2025

“Starfire” at Powder Art Foundation Fall Open Day and Utah Museum of Fine Arts Land Art Week

On October 2, from 11 am to 3 pm, Powder Art Foundation will host a Fall Open House at Powder Mountain in Eden, Utah where Nancy Holt’s Starfire (1986) can be experienced. Starfire joined the collection of Powder Art Foundation last year. The sculpture comprises eight fire pits arranged in the configuration of the Big Dipper and the North Star, bringing the sky down to earth.