Nancy Holt, Missoula Ranch Locators [still] (1972)

16mm film

Color, silent

Duration: 8 minutes, 56 seconds

© Holt/Smithson Foundation / Licensed by Artists Rights Society, New York Distributed by Electronic Arts Intermix, New York

a still from a film showing an outdoor Locator sculpture in use

Nancy Holt, Missoula Ranch Locators [still] (1972)

16mm film

Color, silent

Duration: 8 minutes, 56 seconds

© Holt/Smithson Foundation / Licensed by Artists Rights Society, New York Distributed by Electronic Arts Intermix, New York

Nancy Holt, Missoula Ranch Locators [still] (1972)

16mm film

Color, silent

Duration: 8 minutes, 56 seconds

© Holt/Smithson Foundation / Licensed by Artists Rights Society, New York Distributed by Electronic Arts Intermix, New York

a still from a film showing an outdoor Locator sculpture in use

Nancy Holt, Missoula Ranch Locators [still] (1972)

16mm film

Color, silent

Duration: 8 minutes, 56 seconds

© Holt/Smithson Foundation / Licensed by Artists Rights Society, New York Distributed by Electronic Arts Intermix, New York

Nancy Holt, Missoula Ranch Locators [still] (1972)

16mm film

Color, silent

Duration: 8 minutes, 56 seconds

© Holt/Smithson Foundation / Licensed by Artists Rights Society, New York Distributed by Electronic Arts Intermix, New York

a still from a film showing an outdoor Locator sculpture in use

Nancy Holt, Missoula Ranch Locators [still] (1972)

16mm film

Color, silent

Duration: 8 minutes, 56 seconds

© Holt/Smithson Foundation / Licensed by Artists Rights Society, New York Distributed by Electronic Arts Intermix, New York

Nancy Holt, Missoula Ranch Locators [still] (1972)

16mm film

Color, silent

Duration: 8 minutes, 56 seconds

© Holt/Smithson Foundation / Licensed by Artists Rights Society, New York Distributed by Electronic Arts Intermix, New York

a still from a film showing an outdoor Locator sculpture in use

Nancy Holt, Missoula Ranch Locators [still] (1972)

16mm film

Color, silent

Duration: 8 minutes, 56 seconds

© Holt/Smithson Foundation / Licensed by Artists Rights Society, New York Distributed by Electronic Arts Intermix, New York

Nancy Holt, Missoula Ranch Locators [still] (1972)

16mm film

Color, silent

Duration: 8 minutes, 56 seconds

© Holt/Smithson Foundation / Licensed by Artists Rights Society, New York Distributed by Electronic Arts Intermix, New York

a still from a film showing an outdoor Locator sculpture in use

Nancy Holt, Missoula Ranch Locators [still] (1972)

16mm film

Color, silent

Duration: 8 minutes, 56 seconds

© Holt/Smithson Foundation / Licensed by Artists Rights Society, New York Distributed by Electronic Arts Intermix, New York

Poster for Nancy Holt, Missoula Ranch Locators: Vision Encompassed (1972)

Ink on paper
28 x 13 7/8 in. (71.1 x 35.2 cm)
 

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

a black and white poster

Poster for Nancy Holt, Missoula Ranch Locators: Vision Encompassed (1972)

Ink on paper
28 x 13 7/8 in. (71.1 x 35.2 cm)
 

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

1970—1972

Missoula Ranch Locators

Nancy Holt
1972
Arlee, Montana
16mm film; color, silent
Duration 8 minutes, 56 seconds
Collection Holt/Smithson Foundation
© Holt/Smithson Foundation / Licensed by Artists Rights Society, New York, distributed by Electronic Arts Intermix, New York

Upon completing Missoula Ranch Locators: Vision Encompassed in 1972, Nancy Holt created the 16 mm film Missoula Ranch Locators, which she first exhibited in her solo exhibition at the University of Montana Art Gallery. Eight Locators, T-shaped structures made from galvanized steel, are arranged in a circular formation and aligned with the compass directions. Looking outward, each Locator frames a circular view of the surrounding landscape, guiding the viewer’s gaze toward mountains, sky, and plains. The film shows the outdoor work in use, highlighting its scale and its capacity to frame perception. The moving image was an important medium for Holt, and her films and videos are invitations to look alongside the artist. 

[Holt’s] early Locator works from 1972 were T-shaped pipes through which the viewer focused on land- and cityscapes apparently too vast to be “seen,” implying that the eye is a hole in the body connecting body to environment and vice versa. All Holt’s public works are tools for seeing. Viewers don’t look at them but through them to discover other realms.

Lucy Lippard, 2014

Artforum, May 2014

Related Info

1970—1972
a circular view of the Montana landscape
Missoula Ranch Locators: Vision Encompassed
Nancy Holt
1972
1970—1972

"Missoula Ranch Locators: Vision Encompassed" (1972) by Nancy Holt is a site-responsive sculpture created on ranchland near Missoula,  Montana. Eight Locators, T-shaped structures made from galvanized steel, were arranged in a circular formation and aligned with the compass directions outdoors, developing from experiments Holt conducted in her studio the previous year.

1984—2014
image of a Locator sculpture on a university campus
Avignon Locators
Nancy Holt
2012
1984—2014

Located on the grounds of the University of Avignon in France, Nancy Holt’s Avignon Locators was dedicated on June 14, 2012. It comprises eight T-shaped stainless steel viewfinders, each 5 feet tall, which she called Locators, arranged in a 45-foot-diameter circle.

See Also