RonnieAdventure #0081 - "Double Negative" by Michael Heizer , Clark County, Nevada

In 1969 artist Michael Heizer was looking for funding to sponsor a large “earth art” project called Double Negative on 60 acres of land in Nevada when he met art dealer Virginia Dwan. Dwan was the heiress to the founder of 3M Corporation in Minnesota and owner of Dwan Gallery New York, a contemporary art gallery closely identified with the American movements of Minimalism, Conceptual Art, and Earthworks. After considering the magnitude of the project, Dwan agreed to finance the "earth art" sculpture if Heizer would deed the property to her when completed.

Using heavy excavating equipment, Heizer removed 244,000 tons of rock to create two 30 foot wide, 50 feet deep, and 100 feet long trenches facing each other in a straight line on opposite sides of a canyon’s walls. The total linear distance from end-to-end of the trenches is 1,500 feet, which includes the space between the canyon walls. (The name Double Negative gets its name from both the man-made and natural negative space that constitutes the work; i.e. the sculpture consists of what is not there - rather, what is missing.)

The project was completed in 1970 and the land was deeded to Dwan, but then for some unknown reason Heizer prevented Dwan from selling the property in 1971. In 1984 Dwan and Heizer finally reached an agreement that the “earth art” sculpture would be donated to the Museum of Contemporary Art (MoCA) in Los Angeles. As part of the agreement, MoCA can do no conservation work on the sculpture, and according to the artist’s wishes, nature will eventually reclaim the land through weather and erosion. Although Double Negative can best be viewed from the air, Heizer reportedly does not want aerial photographs of the work displayed in a museum gallery because he feels that the sculpture can only be appreciated through an on-site physical experience. This sounded like something that I needed to experience!

View Southwest

 

 View Northeast

 

After finding Double Negative and while taking pictures I was startled by a bearded young man that came walking out of the canyon. I told him that I didn’t expect to see anyone at the site because I did not see any other vehicles in the area. He said that he didn’t have a car, and he didn’t even know how to drive a car, so he had ridden his bike out here. I could detect that he had an eastern accent, so I asked him where he was from and how he had even learned of this place. He explained that he was an art student at NYCC (New York City College) and Double Negative was discussed in one of his art classes. After the discussion, he felt a special prompting that he needed to visit the sculpture to find its true meaning. He said that it was similar to the feeling that the people had in the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind when they were drawn to Devils Tower in Wyoming.

Anyway, after learning about Double Negative he could sense that this was a special site that had linkages to many universal forces. He had arrived yesterday so that he could watch the sun come up this morning and had been sitting on the edge of the canyon all day waiting for a revelation; but nothing had been received.

It was getting to be late in the afternoon, so I suggested that he start back to town before it got too dark but he said that he that he couldn’t leave until he found the answer he was seeking. I was surprised when he asked if I would help him. He suggested that we try combining all of our resources and hold hands while standing on the edge of Double Negative, humming the same pitch to create a sound spectrum for telepathic waves to travel on. I was a little skeptical and wondered what people would think if they saw me standing in the middle of the desert holding hands with a stranger and humming to the same pitch; however, after looking around and not seeing anyone else, I agreed to help him.

After about two minutes of holding hands and humming, he asked if had received any revelation. I had to admit that I hadn’t and I told him that the only thing that came to my mind was that double means two, and two negatives make a positive. He immediately started jumping around shouting “Yes! Yes! Yes! That’s it! That’s it! That’s message that I’ve been looking for! Don’t you get it! Two negatives make a positive! Double Negative is a positive message to the World! That is why it was carved into Mother Earth! Love Mother Earth! Be Positive! It stands for World Peace!” Love One Another! Have a happy, healthy, and prosperous New Year!