Holt and Smithson on view at Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre in Mumbai, India

Works by both Nancy Holt and Robert Smithson will be on view in the upcoming exhibition Light into Space, organized by Dia Art Foundation at Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre in Mumbai, India. Opening on February 13, Light into Space features Nancy Holt's room-sized sculpture Mirrors of Light I (1974) and Robert Smithson's sculpture Four-Sided Vortex (1967) and the film Spiral Jetty (1970). These works by Holt and Smithson are accompanied in the group exhibition by artists John Chamberlain, Mary Corse, Walter De Maria, Dan Flavin, Robert Irwin, and François Morellet in Light into Space, on view through May 11, 2025.

From Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre:
"It's a constant, continuous, spectacular world we live in, and every day you see things that just knock you out, if you pay attention.” American artist Robert Irwin had once famously said. Paying closer attention to find the spectacular in the invisible was at the heart of the Light & Space art movement—a revolutionary visual art ethos of the 1960s and 70s of which Irwin was a pioneering member. Six decades later, you can step into a luminous dreamscape that evokes ephemeral visions with seminal artworks of Irwin and his colleagues—John Chamberlain, Mary Corse, Walter De Maria, Dan Flavin, Nancy Holt, Robert Smithson, and François Morellet. 

Originating in Southern California in the early 1960s, the Light and Space movement uses light as both a concept and a material to create immersive experiences that interact with the audience, challenging fixed perceptions of reality. Light into Space– NMACC’s sixth landmark exhibit at the Art House—shines a light on the works of some of the most popular counter-culture artists from this period, brought together in India for the very first time by the New York-based Dia Art Foundation. 

Spread across four floors, the visually stunning artworks draw life from immersive environments and industrial material like fluorescent lights, polished metal & plastic, and large-scale installations involving mirrors, lights & reflective paint to create a sensorial exploration that will alter the way you experience art. Moving beyond the traditional canvas and established forms like paintings and sculptures, this exhibit renders your interactions with each piece participatory, unique, and irreplicable!

Offering more than just visual art, Light into Space brings together visionary works that push the boundaries of art. Founded with the goal of supporting ambitious projects that might otherwise remain unrealized due to their scale or complexity, Dia Art Foundation has curated this exhibition to explore the limitless possibilities of light and space. Come, immerse yourself in a world of enchanting, transformative experiences that will challenge the way your perceive the world around you! 

Nancy Holt and Robert Smithson sitting at a diner on a trip to a slate quarry in New Jersey, 1968
© Holt/Smithson Foundation / Licensed by Artists Rights Society, New York

Archived News

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.