City may be opening this September, but I do not think Michael Heizer considers his grand work finished by any means. Many artists that build at this scale (and there are few in modern history that attempt it) rarely think their work is finished. Nature is ultimately in control of these “monuments.” Those who work with the land and revere the land and test the land like Heizer, there is a sheer will in his quest to dominate. It seems like a futile quest. Ultimately, there is a humility in knowing that nature always wins.

It was announced today that after a 50 year process, Michael Heizer’s City will be opening to public visitors (six persons a day, just like The Lightning Field, but you won’t be sleeping over here). And I am already planning my route to City. The vortex pulls me. Why am I obsessed to the remote, the seemingly impossible, the hard-to-get-to, effortful and austere artwork? It is fundamentally about the land, the place where digital technology cannot reach except the satellite images. It is a place to run to, not away. I like that places like this exist that draw me inward to the desert.

In my reading of the announcement, I learned a word today from The Art Newspaper article identifying City as a Gesamtkunstwerk. What? I love words in any language. I immediately had to Google. Google pronunciation, please tell me what this means? I will do my best to pronounce this German word, Gesamtkunstwerk, which roughly translates as a "total work of art" and describes an artwork, design, or creative process where different art forms are combined to create a single cohesive whole. And this leads me to ask the question, is this whole? Or necessary? The process is the art? I wonder what will be my Gesamtkunstwerk? Do you plan on having a Gesamtkunstwerk? I think I have now mispronounced this word four times.

There is a lot going on here in City, much like a real city full of busy people doing busy things. There is the interplay between the light and the landscape, the line, the shadows and the simplicity of the concrete. So much labor, it almost seems as if it was a Sisyphean task. Mixing, grating, grading — seeking perfection. A mighty privileged task (at a $40 million price tag), Heizer has created a shadow to human awe. And if our mouths agape was enough to react at the idea of the behemoth endeavor he started at 27, now 71. I think my mouth will be closed in viewing City. I think if anything, I will be moved to see the entirety, the cohesive whole, in the few precious hours I will have with the sculpture, leaving me most likely sunburnt, parched, and at the mercy of the desert once again.

More reading on City: NYTimes Interactive The Art NewspaperFrom June 2021, Double Negative 

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