Dark Star Park Day 2023
Date and Time for this Past Event
- Tuesday, Aug 1, 2023 9:15am - 9:45am
Location
Dark Star Park (1984) - Nancy Holt
1655 N Fort Myer Dr
Don't miss the Rosslyn favorite tradition that only comes around once a year! Every August 1 (the day that William Henry Ross acquired the land that became Rosslyn in 1860) at precisely 9:32 a.m., shadows created by the poles at Dark Star Park align with shadow patterns on the ground.
This year, start your Tuesday morning on-site at Dark Star Park to see the shadow alignment, or check out our livestream of the event on Facebook Live beginning at 9:15 a.m. Cross your fingers for a sunny day and make sure to "like" our Facebook Page to get a notification when we go live!
RELIVE THE LAST EVENT
Get excited for August 1 with this video of Dark Star Park Day in 2022!
ARLINGTON'S FIRST PUBLIC ART PIECE
Arlington’s history of commissioning public art grounded in County planning objectives began in 1984 with the dedication of Nancy Holt’s Dark Star Park in Rosslyn. The artwork features a community-celebrated annual shadow alignment, and August 1, 2023, at 9:32 a.m., marks the 40th shadow alignment since the artwork’s inception. This event will launch Arlington Public Art’s yearlong 40th-anniversary observance with a series of new projects and special events highlighting the entire collection. Join us in celebrating four decades of sparking civic engagement and urban placemaking in Arlington County, Virginia!
NANCY HOLT AND LAND ART
Dark Star Park is emblematic of Nancy Holt’s commitment to temporal and site-responsive sculpture. Located within a busy traffic intersection on a once-overlooked pocket of land, it features large, gunite spheres resembling fallen, extinguished stars alongside tunnels and vertical poles. Learn more about Nancy Holt and Dark Star Park with this article from Angela Anderson Adams for the Holt/Smithson Foundation.
