Have you ever stood beside or passed underneath a 340-ton boulder? I have probably done this a few times on various hikes but those experiences will never compare to Michael Heizer’s 2012 large scale public art sculpture entitled Levitated Mass. The work, located at Los Angeles County Museum of Art, balances an enormous boulder on two parallel concrete walls that stretch more than 450 feet long. A sloping path was placed between the walls and descends below the boulder — allowing visitors to pass beneath the mass. Although passing under the boulder is the most precarious moment, the installation also allows for a 360-degree viewing of the boulder.
Moving the granite boulder from the Jurupa Valley Quarry in Riverside County to its current location was a work of art in itself. The transportation and installation was covered extensively by the media and was the subject of a 2013 documentary film by Doug Pray. Heizer refrains from offering any explanation for the work’s meaning or significance. He does call the work “static art” and speaks about its size and longevity. His intent was to create a work that would last 3,500 years, and barring some major geological event he may well have accomplished his goal. It is the most elegant podium to display an unadorned, unmolested megalith.