Preliminary Injunction Issued to Prevent the Des Moines Art Center’s Demolition of "Greenwood Pond: Double Site"

Media Contact: Nord Wennerstrom | T: 202.483.0553  | M: 202.255.7076 | E: nord@tclf.org

Judge says “Miss Is Likely to Prevail on the Merits of Her Breach of Contract Claim”

Washington, D.C. (May 3, 2024) – The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF), today announced that land art movement leader Mary Miss has prevailed in the second round of her federal lawsuit against the Des Moines Art Center. TCLF, a national, Washington, D.C.-based education and advocacy non-profit, is leading the national advocacy campaign to prevent the Des Moines Art Center from destroying Greenwood Pond: Double Site, a site-specific installation by Miss. On April 4 the artist filed suit against the Art Center, which claims the installation is too expensive to restore, for violation of the Visual Artists Rights Act (VARA) and breach of contract. Following the issuance of a temporary restraining order on Monday, April 8, in which Judge Locher ruled “Miss has shown a likelihood of irreparable harm,” a hearing for the preliminary injunction was held on April 17.  Mary Miss, art scholar Susanneh Bieber, Associate Professor, Texas A&M University, Bambi Yost, Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture, Iowa State University, and Mike Draper, Founder, Owner of the Des Moines-based business RAYGUN, testified in support of the artwork. 

TCLF first exposed the Art Center’s plan to destroy the work on January 16, 2024. According to Miss, the demonstration wetland project Greenwood Pond: Double Site is the only installation commissioned for a museum’s permanent collection and her first work to directly engage communities with environmental issues. Former Whitney Museum of American Art Director Max Anderson says the artwork, “enjoys an importance and a prominence in public art second to none in this country.”

In a nineteen-page decision, Judge Locher of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa ruled: “The Art Center cannot demolish the artwork without Miss’s consent (which she will not grant) because the Art Center promised in a contract not to do so. The Court therefore must GRANT Miss’s Motion for Preliminary Injunction insofar as it seeks to prevent the Art Center from tearing down the artwork.” The Judge also concluded that Miss had established that Greenwood Pond: Double Site is a “work of recognized stature” [under VARA].

“Judge Locher’s ruling is an important step forward for Greenwood Pond: Double Site and the renowned artist Mary Miss,” said Charles A. Birnbaum, TCLF’s President and CEO. “Though the Court stated that the Artwork ‘is not really a sculpture’ and does not fall within the definition of ‘sculpture’ under VARA, we expect that expert testimony at trial—if it gets to that point—will establish that land art is sculpture (e.g., Robert Smithson’s Spiral Jetty) and, especially that this land art, Greenwood Pond: Double Site, was accessioned into DMAC’s permanent collection as a sculpture.”

“I am grateful for Judge Locher’s ruling and I hope this opens the door to the consultations about the future of the site that were denied me,” said Mary Miss. “I also want to thank all of the advocates nationally and in Des Moines who have been unwavering in their support.”
 

About Mary Miss
The internationally renowned New York-based artist Mary Miss created her first temporary site-specific installations in the 1960s, later producing permanent works such as Greenwood Pond: Double Site. Her works are interdisciplinary, often informed by the history and ecology of their settings, and include elements of architecture, sculpture, landscape architecture, and installation art. In 2009 Miss launched the City as Living Laboratory (CALL) an initiative that encourages artists to collaborate with scientists, planners, and other experts to create place-based artworks that engage the public with the environment and issues of sustainability.

Miss has received numerous awards and honors and her work has been exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art (both in New York City); Harvard University (Cambridge, MA); and the Tate Modern (London, UK). The artist was recently featured in the widely hailed 2023-24 Nasher Sculpture Center exhibition Groundswell: Women of Land Art. A complete biography is available on the artist’s website.

About The Cultural Landscape Foundation
The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit founded in 1998 to connect people to places. TCLF educates and engages the public to make our shared landscape heritage more visible, identify its value, and empower its stewards. Through its website, publishing, lectures, and other events, TCLF broadens support and understanding for cultural landscapes. TCLF is also home to the Cornelia Hahn Oberlander International Landscape Architecture Prize.

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