Nancy Holt Gets First UK Retrospective at Goodwood
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- Nancy Holt (1938-2014) is the subject of the first UK retrospective of her work, 'MOONSUNSTAR EARTHSKYWATER,' at Goodwood Art Foundation in Sussex, running 2 May to 1 November, bringing together her photography, films, poetry, and indoor/outdoor installations.
- Sun Tunnels (1976), four concrete cylinders in the Utah desert aligned with cosmic movements and punctured with holes matching star constellations, is Holt's best-known work, but curator Ann Gallagher identifies a 30cm x 45cm mid-1960s concrete poem — featuring the collaged title words in a circle — as the exhibition's key piece, made 'before she had done any grand works in the landscape.'
- Holt was married to Spiral Jetty creator Robert Smithson, who died in a 1973 plane crash aged 35; the Holt/Smithson Foundation was set up to manage both their legacies and includes a sunset clause closing the foundation in 2038 on their joint centenaries.
- Site-responsive installations in the show include Hydra's Head (six round pools of water in a chalk quarry, arranged by the Hydra constellation), Ventilation IV: Hampton Air (pipes extending from gallery into landscape), and Mirrors of Light (ellipses projected on bare walls from a single bounced light source).
- Holt studied biology as an undergraduate and was literary editor at Harper's Bazaar in the mid-1960s; a 1969 UK trip with Smithson produced Trail Markers, a set of photographs documenting the small orange circles painted on Dartmoor rocks to guide hikers.
- Curator Ann Gallagher describes Holt as 'pragmatic,' 'down to earth, relatable, friendly and informed,' and points to a playful exhibition graph in which Holt plotted the fluctuating proportion of her 'artist,' 'feminist,' and 'mystic' selves over 24 hours.
Why it matters: Nancy Holt was 'one of the few women' in land art, and Goodwood's is the first UK exhibition to bring together her photography, films, poetry, and installations across 40+ years. The Holt/Smithson Foundation — which manages both her legacy and that of late husband Robert Smithson — is set to close in 2038, making this retrospective a timely consolidation of her full practice before the foundation's stewardship ends.
