Proposal to cultivate a small, dense field of corn in a pre-existing planter between 44th and 45th streets; located on a wedge shaped island between 7th Avenue and Broadway. The dramatic axial convergence of this location seems appropriate for contrasting agrarian with urban.
The cultivation of corn began in Mexico about 7,000 years ago, making it one of the earliest known forms of taming and domesticating nature. Even today corn is at the heart of ongoing debates about genetic manipulation of crops and other “natural” products. The piece would also address issues of urban density and the history of land use in Manhattan. Times Square with its neon simulacras and digital mutations is the ultimate symbol of total human imposition over the natural world.
This same area was rural farmland (then known as the Longacre) only 150 years ago. The pre-existing planter (above) on Times Square is now occupied by a handful of half dead shrubs.  |
