The publication Nancy Holt / Dentro Fuera accompanies the exhibition coproduced by MACBA Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona and the Bildmuseet at Umeå University, the most extensive survey of this American artist’s practice to be shown in Europe to date and featuring an ambitious presentation of her multifaceted body of work.
As a pioneer in site-specific installations and the moving image, Nancy Holt (1938–2014) expanded the spaces where art can be found by embracing the most modern media of her time and she questioned the way we understand the nature of our place in the world.
Both the exhibition and the book explore Holt’s artistic legacy through a large selection of works spanning the period between 1966 and 1992, focusing on the notions of perception and of the boundaries between ‘inside’ and ‘outside’. The works include films, videos, photographs, concrete poetry, sound pieces, sculptures and large installations, as well as drawings and documentation of her land art projects.
With this book, MACBA has set in motion the first Spanish translation of Holt’s writings, which, as she herself put it, are evidence of her engagement with art as an essential part of the world. These important texts are joined by studies by Karen Di Franco and James Nisbet and a conversation between the curators who initiated the project (Katarina Pierre and Lisa Le Feuvre) in order to present the background and lasting significance of Holt’s work and thinking. The book also includes an essay by Teresa Grandas, co-curator of the exhibition, which explores the resonances between Holt’s oeuvre and some contemporary practices.
