Dark sunshine, empty and unmanned square, triangular high walls, cross-shaped sand piles... Looking around, it is deserted and silent, it seems like a base abandoned by alien civilizations, and it is like a deliberately repaired ancient ruins.
Its name is very simple: City (city). It is a 77-year-old famous American artist Michael Heizer and his team completed a full half century.
This "city" is 1.5 miles (2.4 kilometers) long and 0.5 miles (0.8 kilometers) wide, with an area of about 1.6 square kilometers. It stands in a corner of the desert in the eastern Great Basin of Nevada, the United States.
On September 2, local time, this "city" that is regarded as the most eye-catching earth art work in the 21st century is officially open to the public, with only 6 visits every day. The quota for 2022 has been booked.
Earth art work "city"
"50 years" "50 years"... This number is found in almost all reports about this Earth art work. This is almost the majority of a person's life, and the premise is that he lives relatively long.
972, when Michael Haze was a 27-year-old young man, he had been choosing a location for this "city" in his mind for several years. Finally, he chose this corner of the desert in Nevada, which is not unrelated to his family who have lived here for generations since the early 19th century. Michael Haze's father is a well-known anthropologist and archaeologist. When Haze was 12 years old, he started to follow his father to Mexico archaeology. "When my father and his colleagues excavated the site, I drew sketches on the side," he recalled. "Art and archaeology are my hobbies."
Michael Haze
In the 1960s, Haze graduated from San Francisco Art Institute and went to New York and officially started his own career as a professional artist. He initially mainly engaged in building-themed mount painting, and formed a deep friendship with Walter de Maria (1935-2013), one of the founders of Earth Art, and his personal creative interest gradually shifted to Earth Art.
In the winter of 1967, Haze came to the desert area of Nevada for the first time. He was attracted by the barren scenery like the surface of a alien star here, and began to create his first earth art work, Double Negative, which was completed in 1969.
"Double Negation"
This is two deep trenches that are 1500 feet long (about 450 meters), 50 feet deep (about 15 meters) and 30 feet wide (about 9 meters) for this purpose. 240,000 tons of rock and soil were blasted and excavated. "There is nothing there," Haze once said, "but it is still a sculpture." "Double Negation" also became one of his most representative works of earth art in the early days.
972, Michael Haze began this ambitious and uncontested art project: creating an uninhabited, highly abstract "city" in the desert between valleys. He bought the land for this, but he didn't expect that the work would take so many years to be made. earth art work "City"
"I still remember the scene when I first came here with Michael in 1973 - looking around, there was nothing around, only me, Michael, some investigation marks and the strong wind that was rushing to the face." Heize's ex-wife Barbara recalled. She has been with Haze in Nevada for 17 years since 1974.
This earthwork engineering is extremely simple in shape, but it is very expensive because of its large scale. In 1998, a group of senior collectors and art dealers jointly with several art galleries and art institutions to establish the Triple Aught Foundation, which provided nearly $30 million in funding for the project. With Michael Haze's own investment, the "city" eventually cost nearly $40 million.
0 years passed by, and during this period, Haze never stopped creating other works.The super-large sculpture "Levitated Mass" he created in 2012 is also an amazing work: a 340-ton rock was transported to the Los Angeles Museum of Art for US$10 million (see the picture below). The truck transporting the work included 196 wheels and 44 axles, and about 60 workers participated in the unprecedented transport of the work. "The Hovering Giant" was later mounted above a special corridor in the art gallery, like an meteorite falling from the sky and stuck there, and it also became the latest artistic landmark in Los Angeles at that time.
The biggest crisis that the "city" has encountered so far is that the government intends to build a railway outside the land belonging to Haize to transport nuclear waste to the nearby Yuca Mountain landfill.
Harry Reid, then-Nevada Senator, has been strongly opposed to the plan. Although the latest news is that the Yuca nuclear waste project will still be underway, Reid has successfully included the "city" area into a large area of reserves. Many people know that Red has always been a loyal fan and supporter of Michael Haze, and he respects this artist with a firm will and great dreams.
Dadi art work "city"
Michael Haze always insisted on not affecting the nearby ecological environment as much as possible, and only used soil and rocks that were taken from nearby materials, as well as concrete that accounted for a small proportion. His artistic philosophy is to create a wonder of the earth that combines prehistoric civilization with modern urban temperament, and make it a masterpiece that can be celebrated in art history. "If you are going to create a great work, why not make one that can rival Empire State Building and Golden Gate Bridge ?" he said.
finally presented to people, and it is indeed worthy of the half-century commitment of the artist and his supporters. "In an art world full of fantasy, thoughts, irrationality, dreams and concepts, this belongs to nature and the real world," said artist and critic Walter Robinson. "Dave Hickey, a famous art critic, is one of the few people allowed to watch the progress on site from time to time during the construction of the "city". He was deeply impressed by this earthly art work, "The lines of the magnificent roads, round hills and gullies are so elegant, with the style of Sumerian civilization and ancient Egyptian architecture, and at the same time, it reminds people of the post-industrial landscape and the indigenous tombs of Central American . Everything is so calm and complete."
On November 12, 2021, 82-year-old Dave Hick passed away; on December 29, 2021, 82-year-old Harry Red also passed away. In the half century when this "city" is slowly taking shape, there are many people and things that have disappeared and moved away from the artist's life.
Dadi art work "city"
Until the work is completed, there is no road that can directly lead to the "city" - it takes an hour to get off the nearest road to get here. On the official website of the Triple Aught Foundation, where you book tickets, there is a special reminder for the reservation audience - "only in weather suitable for visits" to receive tourists, and you must "plan your itinerary in advance", because there is no catering and accommodation here, and there are no street lights and signs, and it is only for tourists over 16 years old to walk.
For those viewers who have not obtained tickets and are eager to be attracted, the next opportunity to grab tickets is January 2, 2023. Adult tickets are $150 and student tickets are $100 (residents of several counties near the "city" can visit for free). According to the latest reports, Michael Haze is currently working with Gagosian Gallery to complete a book recording the behind-the-scenes creation of this work.
earth art work "city"
The extremely low-key Michael Haze rarely accepts interviews. In 2016, he said in an interview with The New Yorker: "Whether it is the Aztec or the Mayan civilization, their most exquisite gold and silver artworks have been plundered and melted and recast, and only the pyramids made of rocks remain.There is no metal in my city, only gravel, rock and cement. In the future, even if someone wants to destroy it, he will find himself gaining nothing from the hard-working destruction. ”
Red Star News Reporter Qiao Xueyang Editor Qiao Xueyang Photo According to the official website of Triple Aught Foundation
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