Nancy Holt : Locators
In 1971 Nancy Holt created her first sculptures – which she named Locators. This publication is the first study of this crucial body of work which led to her influential earthwork Sun Tunnels, completed in 1976.
Nancy Holt described her Locators as “seeing devices” that draw attention to visual perception and place. She described “I woke up one morning, I went to a welding place, made some of these Locator pieces, and overnight I had produced physical objects. They weren't things that you looked at, but they were things you looked through. I would zero in on something you wouldn't notice at all until you looked through my Locator, and then you would be kind of startled.”
The Locators comprise industrial piping welded into a T-shape and are made to be viewed through with one eye to direct attention to the time-bound processes of vision. Holt positioned the first Locators in the windows of her West Village studio in New York City to alight on details such as a cracked window or a ventilation pipe—architectural incidents usually only seen when looking at a location over an extended period. In 1972, she experimented placing a circle of eight Locators in rural landscape in Missoula Ranch Locators: Vision Encompassed and tested combinations of Locators in exhibition spaces using mirrors and painted “loci.”
In this fully illustrated book Ben Tufnell introduces the concept of the Locators, and Douglas Dreishpoon examines Holt’s interest in seeing the “world through a circle.” Serge Paul reflects on working with Holt in 2012 to realize the outdoor work Avignon Locators, and Holt’s short text “Getting Out of Sight” brings the artist’s own perspective to the discussions.
Published on the occasion of the 2015 exhibition Nancy Holt: Locators at Parafin, London, UK
Authors
Douglas Dreishpoon, Nancy Holt, Serge Paul, Ben Tufnell
Editor
Ben Tufnell
Specifications
Parafin, 2015
Paperback
71 pages
224 x 171 mm / 8 7/8 x 6 3/4 inches
English
Out of print
$30
In 1971 Nancy Holt created her first sculptures – which she named Locators. This publication is the first study of this crucial body of work which led to her influential earthwork Sun Tunnels, completed in 1976.
Nancy Holt described her Locators as “seeing devices” that draw attention to visual perception and place. She described “I woke up one morning, I went to a welding place, made some of these Locator pieces, and overnight I had produced physical objects. They weren't things that you looked at, but they were things you looked through. I would zero in on something you wouldn't notice at all until you looked through my Locator, and then you would be kind of startled.”
The Locators comprise industrial piping welded into a T-shape and are made to be viewed through with one eye to direct attention to the time-bound processes of vision. Holt positioned the first Locators in the windows of her West Village studio in New York City to alight on details such as a cracked window or a ventilation pipe—architectural incidents usually only seen when looking at a location over an extended period. In 1972, she experimented placing a circle of eight Locators in rural landscape in Missoula Ranch Locators: Vision Encompassed and tested combinations of Locators in exhibition spaces using mirrors and painted “loci.”
In this fully illustrated book Ben Tufnell introduces the concept of the Locators, and Douglas Dreishpoon examines Holt’s interest in seeing the “world through a circle.” Serge Paul reflects on working with Holt in 2012 to realize the outdoor work Avignon Locators, and Holt’s short text “Getting Out of Sight” brings the artist’s own perspective to the discussions.
Published on the occasion of the 2015 exhibition Nancy Holt: Locators at Parafin, London, UK
Authors
Douglas Dreishpoon, Nancy Holt, Serge Paul, Ben Tufnell
Editor
Ben Tufnell
Specifications
Parafin, 2015
Paperback
71 pages
224 x 171 mm / 8 7/8 x 6 3/4 inches
English
Out of print
$30
In 1971 Nancy Holt created her first sculptures – which she named Locators. This publication is the first study of this crucial body of work which led to her influential earthwork Sun Tunnels, completed in 1976.
Nancy Holt described her Locators as “seeing devices” that draw attention to visual perception and place. She described “I woke up one morning, I went to a welding place, made some of these Locator pieces, and overnight I had produced physical objects. They weren't things that you looked at, but they were things you looked through. I would zero in on something you wouldn't notice at all until you looked through my Locator, and then you would be kind of startled.”
The Locators comprise industrial piping welded into a T-shape and are made to be viewed through with one eye to direct attention to the time-bound processes of vision. Holt positioned the first Locators in the windows of her West Village studio in New York City to alight on details such as a cracked window or a ventilation pipe—architectural incidents usually only seen when looking at a location over an extended period. In 1972, she experimented placing a circle of eight Locators in rural landscape in Missoula Ranch Locators: Vision Encompassed and tested combinations of Locators in exhibition spaces using mirrors and painted “loci.”
In this fully illustrated book Ben Tufnell introduces the concept of the Locators, and Douglas Dreishpoon examines Holt’s interest in seeing the “world through a circle.” Serge Paul reflects on working with Holt in 2012 to realize the outdoor work Avignon Locators, and Holt’s short text “Getting Out of Sight” brings the artist’s own perspective to the discussions.
Published on the occasion of the 2015 exhibition Nancy Holt: Locators at Parafin, London, UK
Authors
Douglas Dreishpoon, Nancy Holt, Serge Paul, Ben Tufnell
Editor
Ben Tufnell
Specifications
Parafin, 2015
Paperback
71 pages
224 x 171 mm / 8 7/8 x 6 3/4 inches
English
Out of print
$30