The Sun Tunnels Encyclo

The Sun Tunnels Encyclo: Exploring Nancy Holt’s Earthwork through Perception and Site affords new information on the artist’s iconic work of land art. American artist Nancy Holt (1938-2014) extended her practice into the land, employing light, vision, and perception through photography, film, installations, and poetics. By creating her expansive earthwork Sun Tunnels (1973-76), Holt became a leader within the land art movement. Through her eponymous essay (1977) and film (1978), Holt presents the work through interdisciplinary topics: scientific (astronomical, mathematical, geologic, architectural) and regional (historical, cultural). Land use (Indigenous peoples, migration, military, industrial) joins poetry and philosophy to extend the work’s site-specificity. Through these myriad subjects, The Sun Tunnels Encyclo explores Holt’s pronouncement: “the center of the work becomes the center of the world.”