After starting the massive earthwork half a century ago, Michael Heizer’s City has finally been made public. The installation, located in a remote area of the Nevada desert, is a collection of over two kilometers of concrete, earth, and stone constructions that lives true to its name. The location, which is hidden between multiple mountain ranges, is being advertised as the home of the largest contemporary artwork ever created.
City will be open to visitors from September 2 to November 1. Visits will only be permitted on a certain number of days each year, and reservations must be made online.
One of the pioneers of the 20th-century land art movement, Heizer created massive, site-specific sculptures that fill places other than those used by conventional museums and galleries. His 1976 sculpture Adjacent, Against, Upon, which contrasts three enormous granite tablets with cast concrete plinths, and his 2012 installation Levitated Mass, which resembles a boulder and is on permanent exhibit at the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art, are among his best-known pieces.
City, which has been shrouded in secrecy for 50 years, has long been thought to be Heizer’s greatest work and is a mystery to the art world.
The sculpture employed a lot of clay, sand, and rock that came from the Lincoln County desert region nearby. The resources were collected utilizing methods that wouldn’t harm the local flora and fauna.
Heizer’s research on Chichen Itza, a former Mayan metropolis in the Mexican state of Yucatan, served as inspiration for the artwork, which draws inspiration from ancient ritualistic structures. Additionally, post industrial and minimalist design are influences.
