Nancy Holt on Dartmoor

"Nancy Holt: MoonSunStarEarthSkyWater" at Goodwood Art Foundation

In May, Goodwood Art Foundation in southern England will present a major exhibition dedicated to Nancy Holt, on view through November 1, 2026. The exhibition forms part of Goodwood’s annual summer program, spanning its two galleries and 70-acre landscape, which features wooded glades, ancient woodland, and meadowland.

Drawing from astronomy and geology, Holt expanded how art interacts with the landscape and anticipated later ecological concerns. Her practice linked human experience to larger natural and cosmic systems, often using sunlight, shadows, and constellations to make viewers conscious of their position in space and time. Holt’s integration of art and the natural environment resonates with Goodwood’s founding principles. Her exhibition at Goodwood Art Foundation marks her first and most substantial presentation in the UK to date.

The exhibition is titled after a 1969 concrete poem by Holt and features key works, including Mirrors of Light II (1974); Ventilation System  (1985–1992); three 1969 photoworks made in the UK, Trail Markers, Wistman’s Wood and Old Sarum Ruins; and the first posthumous presentation of the 1974 outdoor sculpture Hydra’s Head.

Nancy Holt at Dartmoor National Park, UK in 1969

Photograph: Robert Smithson

© Holt/Smithson Foundation / Licensed by Artists Rights Society, New York

Archived News

spiral jetty film still

Films by Holt and Smithson on view at The Museum of Modern Art

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.

four wooden pillars sticking out of the earth with mountains in the background

Chapter Nine of Tuesday Texts

Throughout February 2026, we are publishing the ninth chapter of our Tuesday Text Series as part of our ongoing Scholarly Text Program, which invites thinkers to focus on a single artwork by Holt and/or Smithson. Developed as a tool for researchers at all stages, the Scholarly Text Program aims to publish two essays on each work, presenting differing opinions and approaches and drawing connections to topics that range from geology and ecology to poetry, architecture, public art, sculpture, drawing, film, philosophy, site, and

signage for an exhibition

"Nancy Holt: Light and Shadow Poetics" at the MAK Center for Art and Architecture, Los Angeles

What does it mean to notice how we see? "Nancy Holt: Light and Shadow Poetics" at the MAK Center at the Schindler House in Los Angeles offers an encounter where art and architecture shape perception together. This exhibition to brings Holt’s work into a responsive dialogue with the Schindler House, inviting visitors to experience art and architecture as partners in seeing.