Nancy Holt, Sole Source (1983)
Marley Park, Dublin, Ireland
2 in. (5 cm) diameter galvanized steel pipe, valve, water
10 x 16 x 16 ft. (3 x 4.9 x 4.9 m)
Rotation of valve wheel turns the flow of water on and off. When activated, the water flows into a historic eighteenth-century ha-ha ditch.

galvanzied pipes organized into rectilinear structures in a field outside a large home in Ireland

figure walking amongst galvanzied pipes organized into rectilinear structures in a field outside a large home in Ireland

Nancy Holt, Sole Source (detail) (1983)
Marley Park, Dublin, Ireland
2 in. (5 cm) diameter galvanized steel pipe, valve, water
10 x 16 x 16 ft. (3 x 4.9 x 4.9 m)
Rotation of valve wheel turns the flow of water on and off. When activated, the water flows into a historic eighteenth-century ha-ha ditch.

Water flowing from two galvanized pipes and dropping down into a muddy ditch

galvanized steel pipes flowing downhill and tying into larger pipes in a muddy ditch

a valve that can be turned by hand to turn water on and off through galvanized steel pipes

looking down on a galvanized steel valve with a persons shoes visible beneath it

A model of Sole Source installed at the John Weber Gallery in New York

a small model of made of metal pipes to depict a square strucuture

A model of Sole Source installed at the John Weber Gallery in New York

a gallery with drawings and photographs on the wall and two small metal pipe models on pedestals

A model of Sole Source installed at the John Weber Gallery in New York

1981—1983

Sole Source

Nancy Holt

1983

Marley Park, Dublin, Ireland

2 in. (5 cm) diameter galvanized steel pipe, valve, water

10 x 16 x 16 ft. (3 x 4.9 x 4.9 m)

Gravity is the power source in Holt’s bucolic plumbing system, with water from an elevated reservoir flowing down through the structure of pipes into a pre-existing ditch. Dating back to the 18th century, this ditch is dubbed a “ha-ha” by Irish hunters because of the surprise they experienced when encountering it. While the galvanized steel stands out as a contemporary presence in an otherwise historic landscape, the technology used in this structure has existed in civilization for centuries. In Sole Source, Holt subtly integrates history and modernity, nature and industry, utility and art.

Writing

Scholarly Text

a structure built of galvanized steel pipes built in a grassy field

Nancy Holt, "Sole Source," 1983

Grace Storey

Nancy Holt’s Sole Source was commissioned by the Independent Artists Group of Dublin as part of the twenty third Independent Artists Exhibition in 1983, which took place across two venues in Dublin: the Douglas Hyde Gallery and Marlay Park in Rathfarnham, at the foothills of the Dublin mountains, around six miles from the city center.1 Holt was one of two international artists invited to participate—alongside British conceptual artist Ian Breakwell. Jenny Haughton, then Administrator of the Independent Artists Group, commissioned Holt to make a work for the Marlay Park exhibition. In an initial letter, she wrote “The park is open plan, whose distant horizons are tall trees.

Writing by the Artist

Notes on Heating System Works

Nancy Holt

Both Hot Water Heat (1984), exhibited at the John Weber Gallery in New York, and Flow Ace Heating (1985), shown at the Flow Ace Gallery (now Ace Gallery), Los Angeles, are room-size networks of pipes, gauges, and radiators, which function as the only hot-water heating systems for their spaces. The pipes loop around, and at the Flow Ace Gallery, the network of pipes extends in and out of three gallery rooms. As soon as people enter the gallery, they become enveloped in the structure of the work, the channeled water flowing all around them.

During the entire midwinter period of their installations, Hot Water Heat and Flow Ace Heating kept their galleries at just the right temperatures. The pipes and the two radiators were often hot to the touch, radiating heat throughout their respective galleries whenever the hot water flowed. The heat also caused a wheel to spin visibly in the window of an eye-level gauge.

Writing by the Artist

large steel duct coming out of the ground and spanning large gaps with a person standing underneath

Ventilation Series

Nancy Holt

Made of the standard materials of each system – plumbing, electricity, drainage, heating, gas, and ventilation – the sculpture are functional; the electrical systems light, the heating systems heat, the drainage systems drain, the ventilation systems circulate the air, and so on. Since the sculptures are exposed fragments of vast, hidden networks, they are part of open-ended systems, part of the world. Over the years these technological systems have become necessary for our everyday existence, yet they are usually hidden behind walls or beneath the earth and relegated to the realm of the unconscious. We have trouble owning up to our almost total dependence on them.

Yes, you can say I went from channeling sunlight and sight to channeling other natural elements like air, water, and electricity (fire) in some of my works beginning in 1981. I used the standard materials of each system—plumbing pipe, electrical conduit, terra-cotta drainage channels, heating pipes, and ventilation duct. The works exposed fragments of vast, hidden, interconnecting networks.

—Nancy Holt

‎‎‏‏‎ ‎

Meyer, James. "Interview with Nancy Holt." In Sightlines, edited by Alena J. Williams, 229. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2011.

Sole Source

Writing

Nancy Holt, "Sole Source," 1983

Notes on Heating System Works

Ventilation Series

Related Info

See Also