De Maria | Lightning Field: A Grid of 400 Stainless Steel Poles

De Maria | The Lightning Field: A Grid of Four Hundred Stainless Steel Poles
In a high desert, four hundred polished stainless steel poles are planted in a regular grid, approximately 67 meters apart, each averaging about six meters high, with all tips falling on the same horizontal plane—thus the length of the poles varies with the undulating ground. The entire grid is one mile long east-west and one kilometer long north-south. The poles are extremely slender, almost invisible in strong daylight, only lighting up entirely in the low-angle light of sunrise and sunset. The artwork requires viewers to stay overnight on site. The surroundings are completely empty grassland and distant mountains, with no other man-made objects. Photograph at dusk with low-angle sunlight, showing the steel poles arranged in receding points of light in perspective. Avoid: thickening the poles, irregular spacing, tips not on the same horizontal plane, presence of buildings and roads in the surroundings.

Translated from Chinese by AI.

在高原沙漠上,以每根間隔約六十七公尺的規律網格,插下四百根拋光的不鏽鋼桿,每根平均高約六公尺,尖端全部落在同一個水平面上——因此地面起伏時桿的長度各不相同。整個網格東西長一英里、南北一公里。桿身極細,白天在強光下幾乎看不見,只在日出與日落的低角度光線下整片亮起。作品要求觀者在現場過夜。周圍為完全空曠的草原與遠山,沒有任何其他人造物。黃昏低角度陽光下拍攝,鋼桿在透視中排成漸退的光點。避免:桿身加粗、間距不規則、尖端不在同一水平、周圍出現建物與道路。