Robert F. Adams, Landscape Architect, Writes in Support of "Greenwood Pond: Double Site"
On January 30, 2024, Robert F. Adams wrote the following letter to the Des Moines Art Center (DMAC) Director Kelly Baum concerning plans to demolish Greenwood Pond: Double Site, a site-specific installation by the internationally acclaimed leader of the land art movement, Mary Miss, commissioned for the Art Center’s permanent collection. The work, which opened in 1996, is in a diminished condition with some sections fenced off, suggesting the DMAC has not fulfilled its contractual obligation to “reasonably protect and maintain” the work. The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF) is calling for the DMAC to reverse it demolition decision and, instead, to engage in meaningful consultations with the artist and others to find a solution that restores the artwork and develops a long-term, ongoing maintenance plan.
Dear Director Kelly Baum, Director DMAC
As a landscape architect and cultural arts writer practicing in Southern California, I am requesting that the proposed demolition decision for the Mary Miss Greenwood Pond Project be reversed. I would also wholeheartedly encourage meaningful solutions be sought resulting in a positive outcome for a restoration approach to include a meaningful maintenance plan. This is a successful, at least, in the initial development and construction phase for this significant public site art work, enjoyed by myself and others over many years. I would hope that decisions have not been made already, after all, the project is a significant brown field restoration that restored so much ecological equilibrium to this lower part of the DMAC.
Visiting Des Moines at least once a year, I always go to Greenwood Pond, first thing, to delight in this experiential public art project. As someone very familiar with this project, Mary Miss’s installation is a significant example of place-making for a larger community of visitors to the DMAC. Losing this artwork to an expedited demolition would mean a great loss for future visitors. I request that you, in coordination with the DMAC Board, and the larger Des Moines community, do everything possible to save this artwork for future generations. I would gladly support such an important endeavor.
Best regards, Robert F. Adams, ASLA, Santa Barbara, California
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