Sun Tunnels is an earthwork comprised of four austere and massive concrete cylinders, each measuring eighteen feet in length and nine feet in diameter, installed in an X-shaped configuration in the Great Basin Desert distantly across the Great Salt Lake from her husband Robert Smithson’s Spiral Jetty. The work situates the human body within vast geological and astronomical systems, foregrounding perception as a primary sculptural medium. The four structures are precisely aligned to frame the rising and setting sun during the summer and winter solstices. Each tunnel is perforated with patterns corresponding to the constellations Draco, Perseus, Columba, and Capricorn. As the sun and moon move across the sky, light passes through these openings, bringing the stars down to earth. Each tunnel is large enough for an adult of Holt’s own scale to stand inside, the perforations just big enough to push a hand through. This fabrication study in graphite and green crayon reflects Holt’s precise calculations in perfecting the realization of the concept – the alignment system, the constellation mapping, and the relationship between the human-scaled aperture and the astronomical subject.
