City, Land art sculpture in Lincoln County, Nevada, US
City is a large-scale artwork made of earth, rock, and concrete in the desert of Lincoln County, Nevada. The work spans several kilometers across flat terrain and consists of geometric forms set into or raised from the landscape.
Michael Heizer began City in 1972 and completed it in 2022, a 50-year effort by a team of about a dozen using heavy machinery. The work was financed by patrons including the Dia Art Foundation and Lannan Foundation at an estimated cost of over $40 million. In July 2015 the surrounding Garden Valley became part of the Basin and Range National Monument, which barred new railroad and power lines.
Heizer's idea for City came from a visit to Yucatán and his study of Chichén Itzá, so the reference is to Maya architecture in Mexico, not to pre-Columbian structures in North America. The work sets that inspiration beside Minimalism and industrial construction, built with local earth, rock, sand and concrete.
Access is limited to six visitors per day and requires advance booking through a reservation system. The visit takes place in open desert, so visitors should prepare for extreme climate and long distances between individual elements.
The geometric arrangements recall building forms from early civilizations on the American continent without directly copying them. The forms cast shadows that change throughout the day and shift how the structures are perceived.
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