Greenwood Pond Artwork To Be Demolished

We first reported on Greenwood Pond: Double Site last April, when a judge delayed DMAC's planned demolition of the artwork, following a lawsuit filed by the artist. The lawsuit was sparked by DMAC's closing of the site for structural review in fall 2023 and the subsequent conclusion that the artwork needed to be deinstalled for reasons of “structural integrity and public safety.” At the heart of the lawsuit was a 1994 contract between the DMAC and Mary Miss that indicates the former should “reasonably protect and maintain” the work, something the artist contended it failed to do. The lawsuit asserted that DMAC was in breach of the contract and violated the Visual Arts Right Act of 1990, which grants artists rights to protect their artworks.

Greenwood Pond: Double Site, like other artworks by Mary Miss, was a large-scale site-specific environmental work. It consisted of multi-level paths, a wood trellis, and other structures engaging with the prairie and wetland ecosystem in the larger Greenwood Park adjacent to DMAC. The artwork was meant to be experiential and educational but also provide wildlife habitat and stormwater mitigation. The most photogenic spot was a ramp appearing to disappear into the pond, with a bench that allowed visitors to sit at a level beneath the surface of the water, as seen in the photo at top. Recent photos reveal that water had infiltrated this spot, a sign of the maintenance required for the artwork, regardless of the $1 million the Art Center reportedly spent over the years on maintaining this piece in its permanent collection.

The settlement, announced today by TCLF, mixes the bad news about the demolition of Double Site with some good news, namely the nearly $1 million settlement amount being given to the artist and her promise to donate to TCLF's new Public Art Advocacy Fund, which will “bring national attention to land-based works that are threatened and at-risk.” Although TCLF's advocacy work to date has included Land Art and other environmental artworks alongside the parks, gardens, plazas, and other public spaces more broadly defined as landscape architecture, the new fund will focus on projects like Double Site, which was highlighted by TCLF in 2014 as “at-risk” alongside other important artworks. Other land-based works it has been instrumental in saving in the last decade include Elyn Zimmerman’s Marabar, which was installed at the National Geographic headquarters in Washington, DC, but then successfully relocated following demolition threats, and Robert Morris's Untitled Earthwork (Johnson Pit No. 30), in SeaTac, Washington, which TCLF worked to get listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the first earthwork so designated.