Mel Chin

Mel Chin's "Revival Field" (1990)






This work is a collaboration with Rufus L. Chaney, a senior research scientist at the US Department of Agriculture, in order to detoxify a 60 sq. ft. section of the Pig's Eye landfill in St. Paul, MN. Hyperaccumulators, plants that naturally extract and store heavy metals, were used to clean up the polluted soil. This resulted in scientific data that could test the viability of plants to clean up polluted soil. Mel Chin compared the process to that of Michelangelo's sculptures since it makes something living out of something inorganic.

I feel that the work is tied in very closely to environmentalism since it is all about reducing the toxins in the soil and potentially reducing the size of landfills. I also think that the work is extremely beneficial and that more experiments like this should be carried out. The fact that this was a very scientific piece of art makes it all the better, as it could easily be taken seriously and taken to new levels by other artists and scientists.