Wednesday Writings

We are excited to share our latest digital program: Wednesday Writings.

Every Wednesday through July and August we will be publishing a text from Nancy Holt or Robert Smithson to the Holt/Smithson Foundation website.⁠⁠

Holt and Smithson's writings provide an unparalleled vantage into the concepts, processes, and thoughts that guided their artwork. Both artists wrote extensively and had their writings published in art publications such as ArtforumStudio International, Arts Magazine, and Avalanche. 

During Chapter One of our Wednesday Writings series, the Smithson writings we are publishing relate to the current exhibition Robert Smithson:Abstract Cartography at Marian Goodman Gallery, New York.

The selection of Holt’s writings focus on works that current Research Fellows are studying, such as Hydra’s Head (1974) and Catch Basin (1982). These writings and others also relate to Holt’s System Works, one of which can be seen in the current exhibition Light and Language at Lismore Castle Arts.

Wednesday Writings Chapter One Schedule:

July 7, 2021Robert Smithson, Aerial Art (1969)

July 14, 2021Nancy Holt, Hydra’s Head (1974)

July 21, 2021Robert Smithson, Towards the Development of an Air Terminal Site (1967)

July 28, 2021Nancy Holt, Dark Star Park (1984)

August 4, 2021Robert Smithson, A Sedimentation of the Mind: Earth Projects (1968)

August 11, 2021Nancy Holt, Ventilation Series (1992)

August 18, 2021Robert Smithson, Entropy and the New Monuments (1966)

August 25, 2021Nancy Holt, Catch Basin (1982)

Archived News

Wednesday Writings: Chapter Two

We are delighted to launch Chapter Two of our digital program, Wednesday Writings. During Chapter Two we will focus on writings by Robert Smithson. Every Wednesday in June we will be publishing a text by Smithson to his collection of writings on our website.

"Nancy Holt / Inside Outside" at Bildmuseet

We are very pleased to announce the exhibition Nancy Holt / Inside Outside launches this June, produced by Bildmuseet, one of Sweden’s foremost contemporary art venues. The exhibition explores the artist’s rich artistic legacy through a selection of works spanning 1967 to 1992. This is the most ambitious exhibition of her work to date. Perceptions and demarcations of being "inside" and "outside" guide this survey exhibition.

Robert Smithson works in "The Power of Wonder" at Museum unter Tage in Bochum, Germany

Works by Robert Smithson will be included in the group exhibition The Power of Wonder: New Materialisms in Contemporary Art at Museum unter Tage in Bochum, Germany. 

Two artworks that Robert Smithson originally made during his time in Germany in 1969 will be on view in the exhibition: Mirror Displacement: Indoors (1969) and Essen Earth  and Mirrors (for Bernd and Hilla Becher) (1969).

"Second Site" by James Nisbet

Author and art historian James Nisbet has recently written a new book titled Second Site, which explores "how environmental change and the passage of time transform the meaning of site-specific art." Second Site examines the effect of changing conditions on a number of site-specific artworks, including both Nancy Holt's Sun Tunnels (1973-76) and Robert Smithson's 

Discussions On "Sound As Sculpture"

A significant selection of audio works by Nancy Holt are currently on view in the group exhibition Sound as Sculpture at The Warehouse Dallas

The Warehouse is hosting a series of discussions on the exhibition Sound As Sculpture, including one upcoming discussion on Nancy Holt's sound works with Lisa Le Feuvre and James Nisbet this Friday, March 18.

Tuesday Texts: Chapter Three

We are delighted to announce that throughout February we will be publishing a third chapter of our Tuesday Text Series as part of our ongoing Scholarly Text Program, which invites thinkers to focus on a single artwork by Holt and/or Smithson.

Every Tuesday we will publish a text to our website that includes images selected by the author, a short bibliography, citation reference, and endnotes pointing to the author’s references.