Agnes
Denes, Wheatfield - A Confrontation: Battery Park Landfill, Downtown
Manhattan
Two
acres of wheat planted and harvested by the artist on the Battery
Park landfill, Manhattan, Summer 1982.
After
months of preparations, in May 1982, a 2-acre wheat field was planted
on a landfill in lower Manhattan, two blocks from Wall Street and the
World Trade Center, facing the Statue of Liberty. Two hundred
truckload of dirt were brought in and 285 furrows were dug by hand
and cleared of rocks and garbage. The seeds were sown by hand adn the
furrows covered with soil. the field was maintained for four months,
cleared of wheat smut, weeded, fertilized and sprayed against mildew
fungus, and an irrigation system set up. the crop was harvested on
August 16 and yielded over 1000 pounds of healthy, golden wheat.
Planting
and harvesting a field of wheat on land worth $4.5 billion created a
powerful paradox. Wheatfield was a symbol, a universal concept; it
represented food, energy, commerce, world trade, and economics. It
referred to mismanagement, waste, world hunger and ecological
concerns. It called attention to our misplaced priorities. The
harvested grain traveled to twenty-eight cities around the world in
an exhibition called "The International Art Show for the End of
World Hunger", organized by the Minnesota Museum of Art
(1987-90). The seeds were carried away by people who planted them in
many parts of the globe.
The
questionnaire was composed of existential questions concerning human
values, the quality of life, and the future of humanity. The
responses were primarily from university students in various
countries where I spoke or had exhibitions of my work. Within the
context of the time capsule the questionnaire functioned as an open
system of communication, allowing our descendants to evaluate us not
so much by the objects we created—as is customary in time
capsules—but by the questions we asked and how we responded to
them.
The
microfilm was desiccated and placed in a steel capsule inside a heavy
lead box in nine feet of concrete. A plaque marks the spot: at the
edge of the Indian forest, surrounded by blackberry bushes. The time
capsule is to be opened in 2979, in the 30th century, a thousand
years from the time of the burial.
There
are, still within the framework of this project, several time
capsules planned on earth and in space, aimed at various time frames
in the future.
