The beloved Powder Mountain ski resort in Eden, Utah—beneath new possession by Netflix co-founder and former CEO Reed Hastings—is creating an open-to-the-public artwork program for large-scale sculpture and land -art all through the skiable terrain of the mountain and past. Powder Mountain, established in 1972, is a virtually 12,000-acre mountainous, multi-season property that’s skiable, hikeable, and residential to an extended historical past of recreation as one of many largest ski resorts in North America.
Artwork deliberate for the inaugural spherical of everlasting acquisitions and site-specific commissions consists of James Turrell, whose walk-in gentle set up Ganzfeld Apani (2011)—initially commissioned for and displayed on the 54th Venice Biennale—might be put in in a brand new trailside pavilion nestled inside the mountain’s 156 ski runs and quite a few climbing/biking trails. In collaboration with the Holt/Smithson Basis, a significant Nineteen Eighties Nancy Holt work might be executed completely at Powder Mountain. Moreover, Jenny Holzer will create a brand new sequence of text-based engravings on rock, and Utah native Paul McCarthy will create an immersive set up rooted within the mythology of the American West.
“I grew up in Utah, and the affect of Utah and its mountains has been a crucial a part of my work. A core topic, sitting in each my unconscious and acutely aware thoughts. I’m excited to have the chance to appreciate a piece in that panorama and to be part of constructing one thing particular at Powder Mountain.”
– Paul McCarthy
Additionally among the many artists within the first spherical of commissions might be EJ Hill, following his MASS MOCA solo presentation of a practical curler coaster, who will create a site-specific design for 2 of the mountain’s new ski lifts. Arthur Jafa, Nikita Gale, Gala Porras-Kim, and Raven Halfmoon are additionally executing commissions for the challenge, with extra artists to be introduced within the coming months.
“At Powder, we wish each expertise —from the ski resort to the residential neighborhood to the outside artwork museum—to be intentional, and the mixing of artwork into the mountain is a manifestation of that consideration. We purpose to rework Powder right into a multi-season vacation spot that blends recreation, artwork, and significant connection for our total neighborhood.”
– Reed Hastings, Chairman of Powder Mountain
Matthew Thompson, Director of Powder Mountain’s new artwork program, who conceived the inaugural plan alongside Alex Zhang (Chief Inventive Officer, Powder) and Diana Nawi (an impartial curator who was appointed curator of up to date artwork at LACMA in July 2024), added, “The curatorial imaginative and prescient is rooted within the intentional integration of artwork into the panorama and the seasonal rhythms of the mountain, drawing deep connections to the legacy and enduring affect of the historic land artwork initiatives of the American West. We need to empower a various and intergenerational vary of artists to create formidable experiences within the panorama that broaden the story of land artwork and increase its potentialities.”
Powder Mountain is positioned inside a number of hundred miles of a number of the world’s most impactful large-scale works of land artwork, and the general curatorial ethos and meant customer expertise is an homage to the area’s legacy. From historical petroglyphs and Anasazi websites to Robert Smithson’s Spiral Jetty (1970) and Nancy Holt’s Solar Tunnels (1976), Utah is the epicenter of an extended regional historical past of visionary human engagement with the land that dates again 1000’s of years. Like snowboarding or mountaineering, the workforce behind Powder Mountain’s new artwork program believes that engagement with land artwork and outside sculpture can yield an immensely highly effective particular person alternate with nature.
Powder Mountain might be free and open to the general public for climbing and biking throughout summer time and fall seasons and accessible by for-purchase raise tickets and season passes throughout winter ski season.
Mentioned Alex Zhang, Chief Inventive Officer at Powder: “At Powder Mountain, the elemental features of an alpine resort are reimagined by means of the eyes of a number of the most groundbreaking artists of our time, creating new works that reply to the mountain’s rugged topography, distinctive infrastructure, historical past, and neighborhood.”
Powder Mountain might be open for the 2024–2025 ski season with chosen artworks on view together with the EJ Hill fee, with a grand opening of the brand new artwork program slated for 2026.
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