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Study for Actual Size (Munich Depression)

A work made of gelatin silver prints (10) mounted with electrical tape on board.

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  • A work made of gelatin silver prints (10) mounted with electrical tape on board.

Date:

1969

Artist:

Michael Heizer
American, born 1944

About this artwork

In 1969, at the invitation of Munich gallery owner Heiner Friedrich, sculptor Michael Heizer drove a backhoe to dig a pit more than 30 meters in diameter: geometry writ large on the landscape. As an extension of the work, called Munich Depression, Heizer took 360-degree photographs of the 7,000-square-foot pit and used them to prepare a gigantic slide piece, called Actual Size—a 1:1 virtual recreation of Munich Depression that brought his outdoor intervention into an exhibition space. “I think certain photographs offer a precise way of seeing works,” he said as he was preparing this photo work. “You can take a photograph into a clean white room, with no sound, no noise. You can … possibly experience to a greater depth whatever view you have been presented with.”

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Photography and Media

Artist

Michael Heizer

Title

Study for Actual Size (Munich Depression)

Place

United States (Artist's nationality:)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

Made 1969

Medium

Gelatin silver prints (10) mounted with electrical tape on board

Dimensions

Overall image, approx: 14 × 204.5 cm (5 9/16 × 80 9/16 in.); Overall paper, approx: 24 × 204.5 cm (9 1/2 × 80 9/16 in.); Frame: 49.8 × 225.4 × 2.5 cm (19 5/8 × 88 3/4 × 1 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of the David C. and Sarajean Ruttenberg Arts Foundation

Reference Number

2013.20

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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