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The Arts Intel Report

A Cultural Compass
For the World Traveler
A Cultural Compass
For the World Traveler

Dartmoor: A Radical Landscape

Nancy Holt, Trail Markers, 1969.

Until Feb 23, 2025
Royal Albert memorial Museum Art & Gallery, Queen St, Exeter EX4 3RX, United Kingdom

Dartmoor, a small moorland located in the English county of Devon, is best known for its tors—a dramatic geological formation involving boulders of bedrock, piled atop one another—and Bronze Age structures, including large standing stones and hut circles. The dramatic landscape has influenced many writers and artists, including Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who repeatedly included the moors in his Sherlock Holmes tales, and J. K. Rowling, who chose Dartmoor as the setting for the Quidditch World Cup in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. A new art exhibition at the Royal Albert Memorial Museum & Art Gallery explores Dartmoor through the eyes of contemporary artists. Photography, film, and land art capture the various dimensions—human, environmental, and historical—of the region. —Paulina Prosnitz

Photo: © Holt Smithson Foundation, Licensed by Artists Rights Society, New York