Double Negative, 1969
- Medium
- 240,000-ton displacement of rhyolite and sandstone
- Dimensions
- 1500 x 50 x 30 ft.
- Accession Number
- 85.105
- Credit
The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
Gift of Virginia Dwan
Double Negative (1969) is a work of land art by the artist Michael Heizer. It is located in the Moapa Valley on Mormon Mesa near Overton, Nevada. Double Negative was acquired into MOCA's permanent collection in 1985.
Double Negative was constructed by Michael Heizer in the Nevada desert in 1969 and remains one of the few still extant examples of what are commonly referred to as earthworks, land art, or environmental sculpture. The land art movement first appeared in the late 1960s and served to challenge the location, material, size, and temporal existence of a work of art. Double Negative consists of two long straight trenches, 30 feet wide and 50 feet deep, cut into the “tabletop” of Mormon Mesa, displacing 240,000 tons of desert sandstone. The cuts face each other across an indentation in the plateaus’ scalloped perimeter, forming a continuous image, a thick linear volume that bridges and combines the “negative” space between them.
Admission
Admission is always free.
Hours
Double Negative is on view 24/7, 365 days a year.
Location: Mormon Mesa, Overton, Nevada (80 miles from Las Vegas)
