Nancy Holt, East-West Locators (1972) {detail]
Steel pipe
Overall dimensions variable (site responsive); two Locators: 60 x 12 x 2 in. (152 x 31 x 5 cm) each
Installation view: John Weber Gallery, New York, 1972
Photograph by Peter Moore; photograph © Barbara Moore/Licensed by VAGA, NY.
Artwork © Holt/Smithson Foundation / Licensed by Artists Rights Society, New York
Nancy Holt, East-West Locators (1972) {detail]
Steel pipe
Overall dimensions variable (site responsive); two Locators: 60 x 12 x 2 in. (152 x 31 x 5 cm) each
Installation view: John Weber Gallery, New York, 1972
Photograph by Peter Moore; photograph © Barbara Moore/Licensed by VAGA, NY.
Artwork © Holt/Smithson Foundation / Licensed by Artists Rights Society, New York
Nancy Holt, East West-Locators (detail; 1972)
Steel pipe
Overall dimensions variable (site responsive); two Locators: 60 x 12 x 2 in. (152 x 31 x 5 cm) each
Installation view: John Weber Gallery, New York; 1972
Photograph by Peter Moore; photograph © Barbara Moore/Licensed by VAGA, NY.
Artwork © Holt/Smithson Foundation / Licensed by Artists Rights Society, New York
Nancy Holt, East West-Locators (detail; 1972)
Steel pipe
Overall dimensions variable (site responsive); two Locators: 60 x 12 x 2 in. (152 x 31 x 5 cm) each
Installation view: John Weber Gallery, New York; 1972
Photograph by Peter Moore; photograph © Barbara Moore/Licensed by VAGA, NY.
Artwork © Holt/Smithson Foundation / Licensed by Artists Rights Society, New York
Nancy Holt, East-West Locators (detail)
Steel pipe
Overall dimensions variable (site responsive); two Locators: 60 x 12 x 2 in. (152 x 31 x 5 cm) each
Photograph by Peter Moore; photograph © Barbara Moore/Licensed by VAGA, NY.
Artwork © Holt/Smithson Foundation / Licensed by Artists Rights Society, New York
Nancy Holt, East-West Locators (detail)
Steel pipe
Overall dimensions variable (site responsive); two Locators: 60 x 12 x 2 in. (152 x 31 x 5 cm) each
Photograph by Peter Moore; photograph © Barbara Moore/Licensed by VAGA, NY.
Artwork © Holt/Smithson Foundation / Licensed by Artists Rights Society, New York
Nancy Holt, East West-Locators (detail; Nancy Holt to the left))
Steel pipe
Overall dimensions variable (site responsive); two Locators: 60 x 12 x 2 in. (152 x 31 x 5 cm) each
Installation view: John Weber Gallery, New York; 1972
Photograph by Peter Moore; photograph © Barbara Moore/Licensed by VAGA, NY.
Artwork © Holt/Smithson Foundation / Licensed by Artists Rights Society, New York
Nancy Holt, East West-Locators (detail; Nancy Holt to the left))
Steel pipe
Overall dimensions variable (site responsive); two Locators: 60 x 12 x 2 in. (152 x 31 x 5 cm) each
Installation view: John Weber Gallery, New York; 1972
Photograph by Peter Moore; photograph © Barbara Moore/Licensed by VAGA, NY.
Artwork © Holt/Smithson Foundation / Licensed by Artists Rights Society, New York
Nancy Holt, East-West Locators (detail)
Steel pipe
Overall dimensions variable (site responsive); two Locators: 60 x 12 x 2 in. (152 x 31 x 5 cm) each
Installation view: John Weber Gallery, New York; 1972
Photograph by Peter Moore; photograph © Barbara Moore/Licensed by VAGA, NY.
Artwork © Holt/Smithson Foundation / Licensed by Artists Rights Society, New York
Nancy Holt, East-West Locators (detail)
Steel pipe
Overall dimensions variable (site responsive); two Locators: 60 x 12 x 2 in. (152 x 31 x 5 cm) each
Installation view: John Weber Gallery, New York; 1972
Photograph by Peter Moore; photograph © Barbara Moore/Licensed by VAGA, NY.
Artwork © Holt/Smithson Foundation / Licensed by Artists Rights Society, New York
Nancy Holt, East-West Locators (detail; view through a Locator)
Steel pipe
Overall dimensions variable (site responsive); two Locators: 60 x 12 x 2 in. (152 x 31 x 5 cm) each
Installation view: John Weber Gallery, New York City; 1972
Photograph by Peter Moore; photograph © Barbara Moore/Licensed by VAGA, NY.
Artwork © Holt/Smithson Foundation / Licensed by Artists Rights Society, New York
Nancy Holt, East-West Locators (detail; view through a Locator)
Steel pipe
Overall dimensions variable (site responsive); two Locators: 60 x 12 x 2 in. (152 x 31 x 5 cm) each
Installation view: John Weber Gallery, New York City; 1972
Photograph by Peter Moore; photograph © Barbara Moore/Licensed by VAGA, NY.
Artwork © Holt/Smithson Foundation / Licensed by Artists Rights Society, New York
Nancy Holt, East-West Locators (detail: view through a Locator; 1972)
Steel pipe
Overall dimensions variable (site responsive); two Locators: 60 x 12 x 2 in. (152 x 31 x 5 cm) each
Installation view: John Weber Gallery, New York; 1972
Photograph by Peter Moore; photograph © Barbara Moore/Licensed by VAGA, NY.
Artwork © Holt/Smithson Foundation / Licensed by Artists Rights Society, New York
Nancy Holt, East-West Locators (detail: view through a Locator; 1972)
Steel pipe
Overall dimensions variable (site responsive); two Locators: 60 x 12 x 2 in. (152 x 31 x 5 cm) each
Installation view: John Weber Gallery, New York; 1972
Photograph by Peter Moore; photograph © Barbara Moore/Licensed by VAGA, NY.
Artwork © Holt/Smithson Foundation / Licensed by Artists Rights Society, New York
Nancy Holt, East-West Locators (detail: view through a Locator; 1972)
Steel pipe
Overall dimensions variable (site responsive); two Locators: 60 x 12 x 2 in. (152 x 31 x 5 cm) each
Installation view: John Weber Gallery, New York; 1972
Photograph by Peter Moore; photograph © Barbara Moore/Licensed by VAGA, NY.
Artwork © Holt/Smithson Foundation / Licensed by Artists Rights Society, New York
Nancy Holt, East-West Locators (detail: view through a Locator; 1972)
Steel pipe
Overall dimensions variable (site responsive); two Locators: 60 x 12 x 2 in. (152 x 31 x 5 cm) each
Installation view: John Weber Gallery, New York; 1972
Photograph by Peter Moore; photograph © Barbara Moore/Licensed by VAGA, NY.
Artwork © Holt/Smithson Foundation / Licensed by Artists Rights Society, New York
In 1972, Nancy Holt made East-West Locators for a group exhibition titled Five Artists at the John Weber Gallery in New York City. A pair of Locators sit on the east–west axis near the windows of the exhibition space. The exhibition also included Tour of the John Weber Gallery, an audio work that describes East-West Locators. Looking outward, each Locator frames the view outdoors through its circular viewing aperture; looking inward, each frames the complete apparatus of the other, backlit by light from the window.
As with Crossed Locators, East-West Locators has yet to be presented posthumously. As a site-responsive work, it requires a large exhibition space with windows where comparable focal points can be established: the Locators sit in front of a window, and their full height is visible through the viewing aperture.
Now turn right. Ahead of you is East Locator made of black steel pipe. Walk straight ahead 9 paces 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9 to East Locator. This Locator together with West Locator across the gallery space form one of my works. Now look through it towards the interior of the room. You will see West Locator. Now look through it the other way, out the window. You will see 4 windows of the loft building across the street.
[. . .]
Now turn right. Ahead of you is West Locator. Walk 8 paces 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8. Looking through the Locator towards the interior, you will see East Locator. Looking through the other way a steel bar divides your circumscribed vision. Behind it are the white bricks of this building.
Nancy Holt
From the score of Tour of the John Weber Gallery, 1972
In the summer of 1972, Nancy Holt presented Crossed Locators at 10 Bleecker Street in New York, along with the audio work Visual Sound Zone: A Corner of 10 Bleecker Street.
Tour of the John Weber Gallery is Nancy Holt’s first publicly exhibited tour, made for the eponymous gallery which opened in 1971 in SoHo, New York City. Wall signage directed participants to use an earphone and tape recorder to follow the tour one at a time.
