Double Negative (artwork)

Double Negative is a piece of land art located in the Moapa Valley on Mormon Mesa (or Virgin River Mesa) near Overton, Nevada. Double Negative was created in 1969 by artist Michael Heizer.

A view into Double Negative. From the north end looking south.

The work consists of a long trench in the earth, 30 feet (9 m) wide, 50 feet (15 m) deep, and 1500 feet (457 m) long, created by the displacement of 244,000 tons of rock, mostly rhyolite and sandstone. Two trenches straddle either side of a natural canyon (into which the excavated material was dumped). The "negative" in the title thus refers in part to both the natural and man-made negative space that constitutes the work. The work essentially consists of what is not there, what has been displaced.

In 1969 the art dealer Virginia Dwan funded the purchase of the 60-acre site for Double Negative and in turn the artist transferred the property deeds to Dwan. In 1971 Heizer prevented the Dwan Gallery from selling the work. Dwan then donated Double Negative to the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MoCA) in 1984, with Heizer’s blessing, to coincide with “In Context: Michael Heizer, Geometric Extraction”.[1] Among the terms of the agreement with the museum is the fact that, according to the artist's wishes, MoCA will undertake no conservation of the piece as Heizer indicated that nature should eventually reclaim the land through weather and erosion.[2] Recently however he has expressed a contrasting wish to restore the piece, perhaps in opposition to Robert Smithson's support for the principle of entropy.[3]

For the solo exhibition "In Context: Michael Heizer, Geometric Extraction", MoCA was able to include a photographic panorama of Heizer’s work. For the large-scale, historical survey of land art “Ends of the Earth” at MoCA in 2012, Heizer did not want any representation of Double Negative to be included in the exhibition.[4] A good aerial photograph appears in the informative catalog, but Heizer reportedly worried that documentation in a museum gallery misrepresents sculpture that can be known only through physical experience.[5]

The work is currently owned by MoCA and is accessible by four-wheel drive vehicle or motorcycle.

Directions

From Overton, NV follow Mormon Mesa Road to the top of the mesa eastward. As you come to the top of the mesa, you will pass a cattle guard. Continue east across the mesa for 2.7 miles. Do not leave the mesa. Just before you come to a second cattle guard at the east edge of the mesa, there will be a less-traveled road/path that extends along the rim of the mesa. Turn left onto this rim trail and follow it north 1.3 miles.

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References
  1. Erica Cooke (September 30, 2011), Will Double Negative be a no show? The Art Newspaper.
  2. William Wilson (December 10, 1985), New Moca Acquisition Is A Hole In The Ground Los Angeles Times.
  3. Dana Goodyear (August 29, 2016) A Monument to Outlast Humanity The New Yorker.
  4. Erica Cooke (September 30, 2011), Will Double Negative be a no show? The Art Newspaper.
  5. Christopher Knight (June 3, 2012), Art review: 'Ends of the Earth' brings Land art indoors Los Angeles Times.

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