40th Anniversary of Public Art in Arlington Celebrated on Aug. 1
Rosslyn, VA (July 18, 2024) — An Arlington tradition for four decades, the public is invited to the 40th annual Dark Star Park Day, on Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024, to watch the shadow alignment that the iconic sculpture was designed to capture. In honor of the year-long celebration of the 40th Anniversary of Arlington’s internationally acclaimed collection of contemporary public art, this year’s event will be augmented by an official County proclamation and the debut of a new poem by Courtney LeBlanc, the third Poet Laureate of Arlington County, commissioned to honor Dark Star Park and the work of artist Nancy Holt. Limited-edition commemorative posters by Globe Posters at MICA, rendered in the venerable company’s signature style of bright and bold showcards, will be given away free to attendees, while supplies last.
Every Aug. 1, at approximately 9:32 a.m., Nancy Holt’s Dark Star Park (1979-84) performs a special effect. Shadows cast by the spheres and poles of this landmark outdoor sculpture align with their permanent forms on the ground, marking the moment of Rosslyn’s founding. Rosslyn is one of Arlington’s most recognizable urban neighborhoods, defined by its iconic skyline along the Potomac River and home to the county’s largest collection of public art. The community is invited to celebrate at the park with light refreshments provided by the Rosslyn Business Improvement District.
Arlington Public Art’s 40th anniversary year celebration has been taking place throughout 2023-2024 and included a series of events and activations highlighting the entire collection, including the dedication of several artworks new to the collection.
Nancy Holt (1938–2014) is an artist who expanded the places where art could be found and embraced the new media of her time. Across five decades she asked questions about how we might understand our place in the world, investigating perception, systems, and place. Holt’s rich artistic output spans concrete poetry, audio, film and video, photography, ephemeral gestures, drawings, room-sized installations, earthworks, artists’ books, and public sculpture commissions.
Dark Star Park is her most significant outdoor sculpture in the urban realm and is one of the first major examples of "integrated public art" in the nation, and Arlington’s first major commissioned public art project. The annual shadow alignment marks the anniversary of the day in 1860 when William Henry Ross acquired the land that later became Rosslyn, where the park is located. In Dark Star Park, Holt critically contemplates the physical and ideological structures of land ownership, while reflecting on the relationship between the cosmos above and the earth under our feet. Dark Star Park is among the late artist’s few major artworks in an accessible urban area, and she described the spheres as being stars that have fallen to the earth.
Dark Star Park is located at 1655 N. Fort Myer Drive (at the convergence of N. Fort Myer Drive and N. Lynn Street, just off Route 50/Arlington Boulevard, in Arlington’s Rosslyn neighborhood).
About Arlington Public Art
Arlington County, Virginia, is home to more than eighty permanent public works of art. Arlington Public Art directly commissions artworks integrated into the County’s capital improvement projects, coordinates artworks commissioned by real estate developers as part of the site plan process and assists community groups to initiate public art projects on public property. It also partners with local arts and community organizations, artists, and businesses to present interpretative projects, temporary artworks, exhibitions and more. Arlington Public Art is a program of Arlington Cultural Affairs, a division of Arlington Economic Development, which delivers public activities and programs as Arlington Arts.
About Arlington Cultural Affairs
Arlington Cultural Affairs, a division of Arlington Economic Development, delivers public activities and programs as Arlington Arts. Our mission is to create, support, and promote the arts, connecting artists and community to reflect the diversity of Arlington. We do this by: providing material support to artists and arts organizations in the form of grants, facilities and theater technology; integrating award-winning public art into our built environment; and presenting high quality performing, literary, visual and new media programs across the County.
About Rosslyn Business Improvement District
The Rosslyn BID provides high-quality, customer-oriented services designed to define, enhance and continually improve Rosslyn for those who work, live, visit and do business here. As a resourceful and collaborative organization, we work in partnership with our key stakeholders and Arlington County to create a welcoming, creative, thriving environment that supports Rosslyn’s residents and a wide range of business types, from innovative start-ups to established Fortune 500 companies and international associations. We take an active leadership role in all that we do, serving as a collaborator, community builder and agent of positive change.