Star-Crossed

Nancy Holt
1979-80
Miami University Art Museum (now Richard and Carole Cocks Art Museum), Oxford, Ohio
Earth, concrete, steel, water, grass
Overall dimensions: 14 x 40 x 53 ft. (4.3 x 12.2 x 16.2 m)

Star-Crossed, like Hydra’s Head (1974) and Sun Tunnels (1973-76) is a sculpture Holt described as “bringing the sky down to earth.” It is sited on the campus of Miami University Art Museum, one of the few places where true (or astronomical) north and magnetic north met in 1979. A fourteen feet embankment holds two tunnels in place: one is vertical, spanning east-west, and the other is at a twenty-degree angle, pointing north. Looking up one sees the sky framed in a circle; looking down one sees a pool which fits exactly into the field of vision, reflecting the sky above. To create Star-Crossed Holt developed an invisible and functional plumbing system bringing water to and from the pool, which directly influenced the development of her System Works. The pool is oval-shaped but, as with Holt’s Locators, when framed through the viewing device the outline becomes a perfect circle.

See Also

Hydra's Head
Nancy Holt
1974
Along the Niagara River, Artpark, Lewiston, New York