Art of Agnes Denes Lesson Guide Use these slide by slide notes to follow along with the Agnes Denes powerpoint. Learn more about Agnes Denes by visiting her website: http://www.agnesdenesstudio.com/ Slide 1: About Agnes Denes A primary figure among the concept-based artists who emerged in the 1960s and 1970s, Agnes Denes is internationally known for works created in a wide range of mediums. A pioneer of several art movements, she is difficult to categorize. Investigating science, philosophy, linguistics, psychology, poetry, history, and music, Denes's artistic practice is distinctive in terms of its aesthetics and engagement with socio-political ideas. As a pioneer of environmental art, she created Rice/Tree/Burial in 1968 in Sullivan County, New York which, according to the renowned art historian and curator Peter Selz, was "probably the first large scale site-specific piece anywhere with ecological concerns." Source: http://www.agnesdenesstudio.com/catalog.html Slide 2 Prompt Question: Is a tree a sculpture? Why or why not? Slide 3 Wheatfield – A Confrontation, which the scholar and curator Jeffrey Weiss, has called "perpetually astonishing . . . one of Land Art's great transgressive masterpieces" (Artforum, September 2008) is perhaps Agnes Denes's best-known work. It was created during a four-month period in the spring and summer of 1982 when Denes, with the support of the Public Art Fund, planted a field of golden wheat on two acres of rubble-strewn landfill near Wall Street and the World Trade Center in lower Manhattan (now the site of Battery Park City and the World Financial Center). Source: http://www.agnesdenesstudio.com/catalog.html Slide 4 Born in Budapest, Hungary in 1931, Agnes Denes was raised in Sweden and educated in the United States. Since her exhibition career began in the 1960s, she has participated in more than 450 exhibitions at galleries and museums throughout the world. Source: http://www.agnesdenesstudio.com/catalog.html Slide 5 Among her many other artistic achievements is Tree Mountain–A Living Time Capsule, a monumental earthwork, reclamation project and the first man-made virgin forest, situated in Ylöjärvi, in Western Finland. The site was dedicated by the President of Finland upon its completion in 1996 and is legally protected for the next four hundred years. Source: http://www.agnesdenesstudio.com/catalog.html Slide 6 A Gift to the Future: Tree Mountain by Agnes Denes | IN THE WORKS | THE SHED Video Link: https://youtu.be/nmVFGwNeWcc Slide 7-8 Tree Burial Rice/Tree/Burial was first realized in 1968 in Sullivan County, New York, in a private ritual. It was a symbolic "event" and announced my commitment to environmental issues and human concerns. It was also the first exercise in EcoLogic� an act in eco-philosophy. I coined the words to be used this way emphasizing the importance of eco-logical thinking. This work is considered the first ecological realization in public art. Slide 9 A FOREST FOR NEW YORK - A PEACE PARK FOR MIND AND SOUL A Project for the Edgemere Landfill, Queens, New York © 2014 Agnes Denes“Last year I embarked on a project to create a forest in New York on the last open space before it is swallowed up by condos and shopping malls. The area where I planted and harvested Wheatfield-A Confrontation of 2 acres of wheat in 1982 became Battery Park City, a complex of office spaces and condos and the city reversed to its old congestion. The pressure to develop is ever present, more so in a city like New York. In dealing with climate change and environmental necessities, this project magnifies the need for the right kind of development. Cultural and environmental. My other forests around the world respond to important concerns beyond mere public art projects. Tree Mountain - A Living Time Capsule, the forest in Finland is one of the largest reclamation sites in the world and a Forest for Australia in Melbourne has survived the 6-year draught and is visible on Google Earth. The place for my forest is the Edgemere landfill in Queens, 117 acres of barren land where I plan to plant 100,000 trees specifically suited to survive in this environment once the soil is prepared. This environmental project also addresses Far Rockaway's public health problems through the positive effects of a forest to remove carbon dioxide from the air purifying it, clean ground water and create a healthy ecosystem through natural biological processes for the whole city and its surroundings. The i