Agnes Denes, The Living Pyramid, 2015/2017, various materials, Nordstadtpark, Kassel, documenta 14, photo: Nils Klinger
Agnes Denes’s The Living Pyramid was created as a temporary sculpture for documenta 14. The plants are integral to the work: over the duration of the exhibition the plants sprouted, flowered, some died, and some went to seed. For the artist, this process is evidence of the organic development of nature as it interacts with one of the most iconic forms of human civilization—the pyramid. As a means to extend their life, the artist invites the public to take adopt the plants, take them home and allow them to continue to grow and prosper as a small part of the formerly monumental form. Similarly, every element from the installation of Denes’s best-known work, Wheatfield—A Confrontation (1982), was used after its dismantling: the straw from the wheat became bedding for horses and the seeds were spread around the world as a means to call attention to global hunger.
The plant give-away in celebration of the The Living Pyramid will take place this Saturday and Sunday, September 16 and 17, from 11 am to 4 pm in the presence of Candice Hopkins, documenta 14 Curator.
