operation: P.L.A.N.T.
mixed media, 2009-2010.
In undergrad, a big focus of my work was investigating the existence of waste in the contrasting presence of ever-growing food-deserts.
One time I found a couple utility boxes in the trash and, using a plasma-cutter I conveniently had at my disposal, turned them into garden boxes. I filled them with potting soil and peas (because legumes are a source of protein and are also known to fix nitrogen in the soil, making it more habitable to other plants).
P.L.A.N.T. stands for “Pittsburgh Living Art Networking Team”. There was no such organization, just me naming stuff like it’s a real thing. I wanted to invite fellow pedestrians to be ‘a part of something’, but also I think giving an “official”-sounding name to works like this make the works more credible, or perhaps, sanctioned. Was this vandalism? Not sure. Legal gray area? Probably… in my opinion, at the time, it was a direct effort to improve and even clean up my surroundings - don’t get me wrong, I love graffiti and ‘street art’ but I didn’t want this project to appear *as* vandalism, such as to have it removed right after installation. This, however, may have the effect of causing the community to leave it alone, instead of caring for the plants inside - unfortunately, I can’t be sure, but did quite enjoy this level of experimentation. Anyway, after one million hours in photoshop, I then used a laser-cutter to engrave “our logo” and an illustration of a pea-plant on the front of the yellow box, and a whole list of instructions on the gray one. The gray one even had a compartment for seed-bombs anyone could take and plant in their own garden - right spiffy, if I do say so myself.
The idea was to create an opportunity not only to provide a place to (eventually) grab a free snack, but also an opportunity for open and anonymous collaboration in the real world. Would the appearance of a strange-looking garden box, with instructions, encourage passers-by in the community to look after its contents, or would it become subject to neglect, like so many other things in a city.
Appearances:
yellow: somewhere in Friendship
gray: somewhere off Negley and Broadway; Pittsburgh, PA
PS:
This work was created and displayed in Pittsburgh, PA. I was soon to graduate and about to move, thus had no way to realistically ‘look after’ these boxes. In this way, I was forced to put a lot of trust in the community I left them in, which was an interesting exercise - of course, they are long-since removed, but a friend of mine still living in Pittsburgh at the time volunteered to walk by them occasionally to give them some water, and also give me a status report whenever we caught up (thank you, Michael!). Apparently, between the rain and other people watering them, the peas did pretty OK for awhile! Eventually they succumbed to the summer heat (as peas do) but it was great to see the boxes actually starting to grow before I left, and to see them actually survive past a few inches. In hindsight, I think this project would be interesting to recreate with a better self-watering system, but I surmise that would change the relationship the community has to them, from an active role to a distinctly more passive one.
gallery below!
