In 1982, Agnes Denes planted, tended and harvested a two-acre field of golden wheat near the World Trade Center on valuable land that would soon become Battery Park City in Lower Manhattan. This unlikely intrusion into the dense urban landscape “represented food, energy, commerce, global commerce, and economics,” the conceptual and environmental artist wrote in her documentation of Wheatfield—A Confrontation. “He was referring to mismanagement, waste, world hunger and ecological concerns. She called attention to our wrong priorities.”
More than four decades later, Denes, now 93, has repositioned his pioneering land art work in the context of Bozeman, Montana, at Tinworks Art. In a booming city that is losing open space and agricultural land to rapid development, Wheatfield—An Inspiration. The seed in the ground is sprouting on an acre and a half on a former industrial site, including a tin manufacturing warehouse, agricultural barn and mill, that has been transformed into a seasonal exhibition space focused on projects that They explore the American West.
Denes’ eco-friendly artwork marks the start of Tinworks’ 2024 season (June 15-October 19), which also showcases projects by James Castle, Layli Long Soldier, Lucy Raven, Stephen Shore and Robbie Wing inspired by the landscape of the region.
“This entire complex was intended to be developed when Tinworks was established in 2019, but instead the energy and presence of the artists and their artwork took over,” says Tinworks director Jenny Moore, who led the Chinati Foundation in Marfa, Texas, for nearly a decade before being hired by Tinworks last year after committing to making the site his permanent home. “Wheat has played a huge role in shaping Montana’s culture and economy, but it’s an element we’re losing regionally,” she says. Denes, who had a full retrospective at the Shed in New York in 2019, was the first artist the director thought to address in her new work. “That iconic image of Agnes standing in Wheatfield with the financial district behind her, holding a cane in her hand like this ecological feminist warrior artist, has lived in my mind for a long time,” Moore says.
Agnes Denes, Wheatfield: an inspiration. The Seed is in the Earth, 2024. Tinworks Art, Bozeman, Montana Courtesy of the artist and Leslie Tonkonow Artworks + Projects. Photo: Blair Speed
The idea that the Tinworks land was being reclaimed for artists and their ideas appealed to Denes, who conceived her new piece as a crop of winter wheat, planted last October by volunteers as “seeds of hope,” according to the artist. . This time, art has triumphed over development. In 1982, Denes single-handedly planted a spring wheat crop in May, which produced more than 1,000 pounds of wheat four months later on land that was then quickly consumed by construction. (Another version of Denes’s Wheatfield project will be on display in Basel, Switzerland, throughout the summer, after debuting this month as part of Art Basel’s public art programming.)
As part of Wheatfield—An Inspiration, in partnership with the Department of Agriculture at Montana State University in Bozeman, Tinworks has been handing out spring wheat seeds to the community and inviting people to plant in solidarity on any fallow land. from the city. In the fall, Tinworks will have small mills on site to process the harvested grain into flour, which will be used into bread by neighborhood bakery Wild Crumb and distributed by a local food bank.
Moore hopes the piece inspires the community to come together, grow a harvest, and think creatively about food sustainability. Wheatfield—An Inspiration also challenges Tinworks to consider how else to use their land in perpetuity.
“We recognize the responsibility of it being a public and civic green space,” Moore says. “What does that mean, artistically and institutionally? Will we use it as a site for food production? Is it a site that educates the community about what type of plant species should be returned to this landscape? “We are just at the beginning of that conversation.”
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