Dark Star Park

Dark Star Park, located in Rosslyn near North Lynn Street and Fort Myer Drive, was designed by Nancy Holt, a member of the earth, land, and conceptual art movements.

Dark Star Park, located in Rosslyn near North Lynn Street and Fort Myer Drive, was designed by Nancy Holt, a member of the earth, land, and conceptual art movements. The park was commissioned in 1979 and finalized in 1984. Holt worked with an astrophysicist to ensure that the shadows cast by the concrete spheres and the steel poles align with the shadow patterns on the ground once a year.

Dark Star Park Day commemorates the day William Henry Ross acquired the land that became Rosslyn on Aug. 1, 1860. The site 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.

Every August 1, at 9:32AM, spectators meet at the park to observe the shadows of the sculpture at Dark Star Park line up with markings on the ground.

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