BEST EIGHTH WONDER

City, Nevada, by Michael Heizer

- HARRIET LLOYD-SMITH

A key proponent of the land art or ‘earthworks’ movement, Michael Heizer began work on City in 1972. Fifty years, $40m and manifold logistical hurdles later, the American artist’s mega-sculpture in the Nevada desert finally came to fruition, opening to the public in September 2022.

Much like its Area 51 neighbour, City is a project swathed in intrigue, mystery and myth. The land art installation – more than one mile long and sited in Nevada’s Garden Valley – is divided into a series of ‘complexes’ featuring immaculate, undulating mounds of locally-sourced compacted dirt, and angular concrete shards and volumes that jut towards the sky as though they’ve pierced through the Earth’s crust.