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Collection > Michael Heizer >

Double Negative

1969

  • Medium

    240,000-ton displacement of rhyolite and sandstone

  • Dimensions

    1500 x 50 x 30 ft.

  • Credit

    The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles Gift of Virginia Dwan

  • Accession number

    85.105

  • Object label

    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.

    For more information including directions.