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 short typewritten text within a circle, with Nancy Holt's signature in the bottom right corner

Nancy Holt concrete poem on show in Paris at Centre Wallonie-Bruxelles

Nancy Holt started making art in 1966, and her first works took the form of concrete poems: artworks testing the structure, content, and form of language. A key concrete poem, "The World Though a Circle 2," from 1972 is currently on show in the exhibition Deep Fields at the Centre Wallonie-Bruxelles in Paris until March 23, 2026.

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.