Overview

Double Negative is a land art sculpture on the edge of Mormon Mesa just east of Overton and overlooking the Virgin River a bit north of Lake Mead (outside Lake Mead National Recreation Area). The world-famous artist, Michael Heizer, created the piece in 1969, which in essence, is a sculpture consisting only of a defined, empty space.

Heizer is concerned that documentation of his work misrepresents the sculpture because it can only be known by visiting the site in person, so the photos here are posted only to encourage visitation. The work is owned by the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.

To understand Double Negative, visitors need to realize that Heizer works in "negative space," which is empty space and invisible. Here, Mr. Heizer created a beam that spans the canyon. We can't see the beam because it is invisible, but evidence of the beam is given by the two brackets dug into the edges of the cliffs that hold the beam in place. Negative space is about what is not there, not what is there.

The sculpture was created using bulldozers to dig two 30-foot wide, 50-foot-deep trenches on opposite sides of a natural canyon. The north and south ends of the trenches are 1,500-feet apart, such that the piece includes the two trenches and the natural canyon between them. The "negative" refers to the 1,500-foot-long "negative space" beam. Visitors could think of this as an invisible curtain rod hung between two brackets set on a window frame.

Michael Heizer is almost finished creating another massive land art project in Basin and Range National Monument, Lincoln County, Nevada. This new piece, called City, is about 1-1/4 miles long and 1/4 mile wide. Also on private land, an inholding, Mr. Heizer has been working on City since the 1960's. Hopefully it will be opened to the public before too long.

Watch Out

Other than the standard warnings about hiking in the desert, ... areas near the road are fairly safe, but the edge of the mesa and the edges of Double Negative are not safe because things crumble with time. Access to this area requires a high-clearance vehicle or very carefully driven sedan because the access road is rocky.

While out and about, please respect the land and the other people out there, and try to Leave No Trace of your passage. If visitors wander from the road, nobody will find you, so be sure to bring the 10 Essentials.

Getting to Double Negative

Double Negative is located about 1.5 hours northeast of Las Vegas. The easiest way to get there from town is to drive north on Interstate-15 to the Logandale exit (Exit 93). Turn right onto Highway 169 and drive south through the towns of Logandale and Overton where gas, food, lodging, and other supplies are available.

Drive south on Highway 169 for 11.1 miles to Cooper Street. Make a hard left at the Maverik Gas Station and drive north on Cooper Street for 1.1 miles. After crossing the Muddy River Bridge, the road forks. Stay right onto Mormon Mesa Road, which runs east along the south edge of the airport.

Drive east on Mormon Mesa Road 5.4 miles to Double Negative Road, on the left (Google Maps calls this Carp-Elgin Road). At about 3.8 miles out, the road climbs atop Mormon Mesa. In another 2.8 miles, turn left onto Double Negative Road, a 2-track road. Drive northeast 1.4 miles to South Trench (Double Negative South) and another 0.3 miles to North Trench (Double Negative North). There are many choices for which "road" to use, but continue northeast along the edge of the mesa.