On a recent gray, midterm-y Wednesday, intrepid Bwoggers Helen Bao and Allie Curry  visited “Sightlines,” the first exhibition of the season at the Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Art Gallery (that’s the 8th floor of Schermerhorn.) Here, they tell us about it.

First of all: Schermerhorn is confusing. To get there from the stairs: Enter on the fourth floor (yes, the ground floor) and make your way up to floor six. Then climb one more sets of stairs to reach floor eight. (We don’t know either.) From the elevator: Enter on the fourth floor (ground floor) and press the up button to the elevator. Exit on the 9th floor to reach the 8th floor.

“Sightlines” features the work of Nancy Holt, a contemporary American artist famous for environmental and land art. A movement that emerged in the 1960s, land art draws attention to the negative impact humans can have on the environment. Her most famous works are her large-scale permanent works Sun Tunnels and Dark Star Park, which combine sculpture and architecture to form live, experiential landscapes.

She also works in photography and film, which are the media on view in the Wallach exhibition. “Sightlines” displays photographs, 16mm and Super 8 films, and videotapes, all with a reoccurring theme of circles. Three screens run films of construction, cameras, and concrete interfacing with American forest and desert landscapes. Bwog was a fan of the video art, on display in a nifty mini-theater.

Bwog recommends this exhibit if…
– Your inner New Museum enthusiast is languishing somewhere deep in merciless cultural and imperialist hegemony that is the Art Hum syllabus
– Your hiking expedition upstate doesn’t work out this weekend
– The “infinite abyss” scene in Garden State was your last scenic glimpse of a New Jersey granite quarry
– You really like circles

“Sightlines” is showing Wednesdays through Saturdays from 1-5 pm until December 11, 2010.