Nancy Holt’s electrifying exhibition at the Wexner Center rethinks energy, memory, and infrastructure through conceptual light and steel, offering a unique perspective on technology, art, and human experience.
Nancy Holt’s survey exhibition ‘Power Systems,’ currently on view at the Wexner Center for the Arts, rethinks energy, memory, and infrastructure through conceptual light and steel. Thoughtfully integrated into the center’s architecture, this collection of Holt’s work offers a unique perspective on the intersections between technology, art, and human experience.
Nancy Holt was an American artist known for her large-scale land art installations that explored the relationship between 'space, perception, and human experience.'
Born in 1938, Holt's work often involved site-specific sculptures that engaged with the natural environment.
Her most famous piece, 'Sun Tunnels,' features four interlocking concrete tunnels that align with celestial bodies during specific astronomical events.
Through her art, Holt sought to challenge viewers' perceptions of time and space.
Holt sought to make networks of energy visible, and her masterpiece, ‘Electrical System‘ (1982), exemplifies this concept. By placing lightbulbs on the floor and others far above, Holt creates a radical structure that speaks to the materiality of industry. The sculptures, constructed from brushed steel conduits, resemble benevolent multi-limbed creatures, high up enough to teach us something about our relationship with electricity.
Few works have begun so obviously on graph paper as ‘Electrical System‘. However, upon entering the actual work, one is enveloped and enmeshed within the electricity and light. The piece has its own arcane logic, requiring the viewer to duck and be careful where they step. This promise of disclosure is a feint, leaving the true nature of the work ambiguous.
Holt’s work is ‘site reflexive‘ rather than ‘site specific,’ meaning it engages with the space in which it is presented without being bound by it. The Wexner Center has done an admirable job of integrating her vision into their architecture, as seen in pieces like ‘Pipeline‘ (1986), which begins outside the building and snakes down into it, beckoning visitors toward a better relationship with the inhuman elements that meet our human needs.
Through its thoughtful integration with the Wexner Center’s architecture, ‘Power Systems‘ offers a unique perspective on the intersections between technology, art, and human experience. As we navigate this exhibition, we are reminded to reconsider our relationship with energy and memory, and to find meaning in the often-overlooked networks of power that surround us.
Nancy Holt, an American artist known for her site-specific installations, created the 'Power Systems' series in the late 1960s.
This series explores the relationship between energy production and consumption.
Holt used industrial sites, such as power plants and transmission lines, to examine the impact of human activity on the environment.
Her work highlighted the visual presence of infrastructure and its effects on the surrounding landscape.
‘Nancy Holt: Power Systems‘ is on view at the Wexner Center for the Arts through June 29, 2025.
