Nancy Holt, Sun Tunnels

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Aligning to solstices and mirroring constellations, Sun Tunnels brings the stars down to earth.

Nancy Holt, Sun Tunnels, 1973–76, installed in the Great Basin Desert, Utah, concrete, steel, and earth, 281.9 x 551.2 x 281.9 cm each (Dia Art Foundation with support from Holt-Smithson Foundation) © Holt/Smithson Foundation

Nancy Holt is known for artworks that engage the celestial: stars, sunlight, and orbiting bodies. In 2018, with support from the Holt/Smithson Foundation, Dia acquired Holt’s “Sun Tunnels” (1973–76) and continues to steward the work to this day.

Composed of four concrete cylinders—18 feet in length and 9 feet in diameter—“Sun Tunnels” is located in the Great Basin Desert in northwestern Utah. The work centers Holt’s interest in perception and time, sculpting the sun’s light through the interplay of land and sky and shifts from day to night.

Dia Art Foundation is pleased to share this film highlighting “Sun Tunnels” and the work of Nancy Holt in celebration of our 50th anniversary.

This work at Dia Art Foundation

Nancy Holt, “Sun Tunnels,” Artforum, volume 15, number 8 (April, 1977).

Lisa Le Feuvre and Katarina Pierre, Nancy Holt: Inside/Outside, exhibition catalogue (New York: The Monacelli Press, 2022).

Janet Saad-Cook, et al., “Touching the Sky: Artworks Using Natural Phenomena, Earth, Sky and Connections to Astronomy,” Leonardo, volume 21, number 2 (1988), pp. 123–34.

Cite this page as: Dia Art Foundation, "Nancy Holt, Sun Tunnels," in Smarthistory, September 25, 2024, accessed November 10, 2024, https://smarthistory.org/nancy-holt-sun-tunnels/.