two figures walking through a sand quarry

Research Fellowship Webinar with Rory O'Dea

Join us on Thursday October 13th for a webinar by 2022 Holt/Smithson Research Fellow, Rory O'Dea.
Rory will share his research surrounding Robert Smithson and Nancy Holt's time and work in the Pine Barrens, NJ.

Information and Registration:
Thursday, October 13th
10:30 AM Mountain Time
Rory will present for 30 - 45 minutes and a question and answer session will follow.
Register in advance for this webinar.

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

Rory O’Dea is an Assistant Professor of Contemporary Art and Design and the Associate Dean of the School of Art and Design History and Theory. He received his PhD in art history from the Institute of Fine Arts at New York University, and his scholarship explores the ways that visual art intersects with ecology, geology, and fiction as a means to produce speculative realities and alternative modes of knowledge. At Parsons, his pedagogy is rooted in the intersection of theory and practice and explores the ways that art history shapes and is shaped by artistic research. His monograph titled Robert Smithson, Land Art, and Speculative Realities will be published by Routledge in 2023.

Project Description

"Encompassing site-studies, ethnography, and archival research at ecological and historical institutions, my fellowship project will investigate the local cultures--human and nonhuman--of the Pine Barrens, New Jersey that have been erased or are under threat of erasure by the processes of industrialization and environmental degradation. More specifically, my project will examine the connections and tensions between the contemporary movements to preserve the 'wilderness' of the Pine Barrens and the human culture of its long-standing communities. At the same time, my research of the Pine Barrens represents a critical opportunity to investigate the ways that Holt and Smithson collaboratively and individually produced work in response to the same site. Finally, my research addresses the question of how contemporary art can productively respond to and mediate the various land uses of the site to achieve a sustainable future."

Robert Smithson and Carl Andre walking through a sand quarry in the Pine Barrens, New Jersey
Spring, 1967
Photograph: Nancy Holt
© Holt/Smithson Foundation / Licensed by Artists Rights Society, New York

Archived News

an image of a pipeline inside a gallery

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

an image of a sign saying 'sun air'

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.

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," 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.