Beginning in September 2007, artist Phil Ross and media arts developer Marina McDougall have been constructing an outdoor installation at the campus of the Oxbow School in Napa, California. Titled Machine in the Garden, this permanent installation is intended to reflect what the artists call “a philosophical and ideological conflict that has profoundly shaped the history of the American landscape and how we see it—the struggle between an industrialized environment and a bucolic, arcadian, countryside.”
Can we preserve the environment and still live in an industrialized world? How can art help us do this? Ross and McDougall hope their installation will provoke visitors to consider their relationships with nature, and since Ross himself has been described (by inhabitat.com) as “a one-man laboratory for geeky eco-art experiments,” the new installation seems likely to be engaging.
Final construction on Machine in the Garden is due to take place this summer.
1 response so far ↓
Marina McDougall // July 29, 2008 at 3:47 pm
Hi Susan,
Thanks so much for featuring our project on your blog! And great to discover Natural World Museum. It’s great – and covers so many of the projects that interest me, too. I’m wondering if we’ve ever met since your name is very familiar to me? Would love to be in touch.
All the best,
Marina