University of New South WalesCollege of Fine Arts
School of Art History and Theory
Curating the Land: Artist-led remediation projects on formermine sites
Christiane Keys-Statham
A project submitted in partial fulfillment of the
requirements
for the degree of Master of Art Administration
November 2013
Contents
Contents..................................................IAbstract.................................................II
Curating the Land: Artist-led remediation projects on former mine sites.....................................II
Acknowledgements.........................................IVList of Figures...........................................VChapter one: Introduction.................................11.1 Writing in the field.................................1
Chapter two: Framing the Discussion.......................62.1 What is remediation?.................................62.2 Contemporary Earth art, environmentalism, relational aesthetics...............................................92.3 Creative placemaking: Integrating civic memory and looking to the future...................................11
Chapter three: Experimental practice.....................143.1 Art, science and transdisciplinary experimentation..143.2 Politics and participation: Art as activism.........153.3 Democratic discourse and the benefits of collaboration........................................................17
Chapter four: Case studies of artist-led remediation projects in Europe and North America.....................194.1 AMD&Art, Pennsylvania...............................194.2 Nine Mile Run Greenway Project, Pennsylvania (NMR-GP)........................................................234.3 Emscher Park, Ruhr Valley, Germany..................264.4 Evaluation of case studies..........................29
Chapter five: Curating the land: Applications in Australia.........................................................305.1 Using action research methodologies.................305.2 Projects involving former mine sites in Australia...32
Chapter six: Recommendations for the future..............346.1 Guidelines for remediation projects in Australia....346.2 Further thoughts....................................37
Bibliography.............................................38
I
Abstract
Curating the Land: Artist-led remediation projects on formermine sites
“My own experience is that the best sites for ‘earth art’ are sites that have been
disrupted by industry, reckless urbanisation or nature’s own devastation”
Robert Smithson, 1966
Over the last twenty years a number of projects all over the
world have developed from collaborations between artists,
architects, landscape designers, curators and communities.
These projects involve the remediation and regeneration of
former mining sites, which are often contaminated and
environmentally depleted.
The creation of landscaped parks, community gardens, outdoor
exhibition spaces or art parks give rise to a confluence of
art, technology and social engagement, and can even be
II
considered to be a new form of multidisciplinary practice.
In this thesis, I use case studies of such artist-led
projects in North America and Europe, which have taken place
on former mine sites, in order to provide suggestions for
possible projects for Australia in the future.
The prevalence of such contaminated sites in Australia
provides opportunities for this new field of artistic
practice. This research is written from the point of view of
a curator interested in land, earth and environmental art,
artistic collaborations geared towards community cultural
development and experimental, interdisciplinary practices.
My study explores the proposition that Australia has
numerous potential sites for such artist-led remediation
projects on disused former mine sites.
This research employs the qualitative research method, using
the AMD&Art project in Pennsylvania, the Nine Mile Run
Greenway Project in Pittsburgh, and Emscher Park in the Ruhr
Valley in Germany as case studies. These projects are
examined for success factors, collaborative models and best
practice. My research identifies the key factors behind the
success of these projects and assesses the ways that they
could be adapted for Australian contexts.
Based on the results of this research, a list of best
practice guidelines is provided for artists, curators and
communities to assist them in developing projects for the
III
Acknowledgements
This paper is dedicated to my core team: my husband, my
mother and my son. You are my tribe, my inspiration and my
greatest gifts. Without your love, support and energy, I
would never have made it this far. Thank you!
Love and gratitude to my UK support team: Patrizia, Sally
and family, Helen and Ben.
I would like to acknowledge my lecturers and supervisors at
COFA who have been so encouraging and generous with their
time and advice, namely Arianne Rourke, Felicity Fenner,
David McNeill and Kirsten Davies.
V
List of Figures
Figure 1: The Ghost Town Trail bicycle track, part of the
AMD&Art site.
© Abigail Rome, 2011 (http://abitravelblog.wordpress.com)
Figure 2: Emscher Landschaftspark
© Walter Menzies, 2011 (http://wsmenzies.blogspot.co.uk)
VI
Chapter one: Introduction
1.1 Writing in the field
Reclamation art developed in the United States, emerging
from the Land and Earth art movements of the 1960s and 70s.
Robert Morris’ article ‘Notes on Art as/and Land
Reclamation’, published in October magazine in 1980, marks
the beginning of academic literature on this topic, and is
thus an important point from which to start this research.
Morris is a conceptual artist who created one of the first
Land Art pieces with his work Steam in 1967, and his work
Untitled: Johnson Pit No. 30. in King County, Washington was
arguably the first piece of reclamation art. His article
provides an insight into attitudes towards Land Art at the
time, and some of the questions that were already beginning
to develop around reclamation (or remediation) art. Some of
these issues persist to this day, while many have been
discounted or rendered irrelevant.
It is striking to note the similarity between some of the
key issues articulated in Morris’ article and continuing
problems echoed in contemporary art practice. Morris wrote
that, “ for some time there has been public concern over the
effects of constantly accelerating programs for the
extraction of non-renewable resources from the land” 1
(Morris, 1980, p. 87). Sadly, three decades on, these
problems persist, and indeed are increasing across the
globe. Despite our knowledge of the limitations of fossil
fuels, we continue to extract minerals and fuel from the
earth at an unimpeded rate. These issues are addressed
today in much environmental or ‘eco’ art, and across all
mediums and genres. In this respect, Morris’ text is as
relevant today as it was when written, and it provides a key
starting point for this paper.
Morris’ paper has framed my research parameters in both its
inclusions and omissions. Morris defined his subject
clearly and introduced some of the key debates that emerged
from early reclamation art practice and which persist today.
These include issues of indigenous rights, the integration
of technology into society and potential collaborations
between artists, government and industry. I will be
developing these ideas in conjunction with more current
research, as discussed below.
Most noticeable in Morris’ writing, however, are certain
outdated attitudes, which have rendered some of Morris’
concerns irrelevant today. These attitudes are interesting
because they help the reader identify the changes that have
occurred in reclamation art since its early days.
Particularly of interest is the author’s treatment of
technology – he ascribed structural features to technology
2
including ‘fragmentation’ (Morris, 1980, p. 93), and
contrasted its use to ecological art, which, he argued,
aimed for the opposite: presumably, holisticism. I will
argue that contemporary reclamation art, as with many other
forms of contemporary practice, now aims to conjoin
technology, environmentalism and social activism, rather
than being conflicted by the competing aims described by
Morris.
These ideas are further developed in a body of academic
literature written since Morris’ seminal text. My two North
American case studies have been the focus of research
examining their models and approaches. Specifically,
Collins et al., 1997, examined the ethical implications of
reclamation art in further depth, building on Morris’
tentative questions. The debate revolving around the
concept of aesthetics is evident in this paper, and is also
explored in later texts (Carney, 2010; Turner, 2007 and
Collins, 2003)
The issue of aesthetics will be examined in the second
chapter of my paper. Frederick Turner’s examination of the
meaning of remediation, and his consideration of the nature-
vs-culture aspect of remediation projects (2007) will also
be considered and built upon in my definition.
I will also examine the proposition that the visual arts can
be a “medium for negotiating the interface between culture
3
and nature” (Hicks et al, 2007, p. 332). My chapter on
remediation will delineate specific aspects of the debate
about remediation and reclamation art and identify key
factors in reclamation art that can be applied to an
Australian context.
Recent texts (Fain, 2011; Brisini, 2012) contain criticism
of aspects of participation and community engagement in
remediation and reclamation projects. Brisini, in
particular, deconstructs the application of relational art
practices in remediation projects and artists who “cultivate
fleeting, intentional communities among their audiences”
(Brisini, 2012, p. 22). Fain (2011) questions the potential
for reclamation art works being created for greater
community purposes, and art’s instrumentalisation as part of
a government or industry agenda. I intend to demonstrate
that the most successful case studies arise primarily from
direct collaborations between artists and communities,
rather than being instigated by mining companies or local
government as part of a public relations exercise.
The intersection of art, technology and social activism is
examined in many texts (McHenry, 2011; Comp, 2008; Loures et
al, 2008); however, there is a need for this type of
experimental practice (Bennett, 2012) to be considered
specifically in the context of artist-led reclamation or
remediation projects. The question of the effectiveness of
4
a transdisciplinary approach, when considering remediation
of former mine sites, has been considered (Fain, 2011;
Carney, 2010; Stokols, 2006) but not yet in an Australian
context. My paper aims to lay the groundwork for more
thorough research into this area in future. Building on
recent literature on the impact of the mining industry and
its resulting landscapes in Australia (Mudd, 2013), I will
consider the future possibilities for communities, artists,
government and industry stakeholders in the implementation
of artistic remediation projects.
My exploration of international case studies benefits from
three decades of academic literature, providing detailed
examination of their successes and failures. The case of
Nine Mile Run in Pittsburgh was considered in detail by its
own co-directors (Collins et al, 1997) and by other
academics (Fain, 2011; Carney, 2010) and individuals
involved with remediation projects examined elsewhere in my
paper (Comp, 2008). AMD&Art in Pennsylvania, initiated by
T. Allan Comp, a major remediation project on a former mine
site, has also been examined thoroughly (Brisini, 2012;
Reece, 2002).
To balance these North American case studies, I will employ
the literature surrounding the European scenario, using
Emscher Park in the Ruhr Valley as a case study. This
particular project has been examined in its ecological,
5
architectural and sustainable aspects (Franz et al, 2008;
Shaw, 2002; Almaas, 1999) but I will employ it here as an
example of a project that responds directly to the needs of
its local and regional communities, rather than one that was
initiated for the development of the tourism industry
(Verbeke, 1999). As Shaw has pointed out (2002), it is also
a project that has successfully incorporated and reimagined
its industrial heritage in a cultural context.
Using these three case studies, I will propose that the most
successful artist-led remediation projects address ecology,
community and indigenous rights in a very different manner
to early Earth and Land art works, such as those undertaken
by artists like Robert Morris and Robert Smithson, which can
be considered to be heterotopic (Heyd, 2007). The long-term
success, usage and development of future projects will be
shown to be dependent on communication between stakeholders,
democratic discourse rather than an independent artistic
vision (Collins, 2003), collaborative and transdisciplinary
practice, and site-specificity.
Action research is a way of bringing these aspects together,
and the application of action research methodologies
(Thering, 2007; Stokols, 2006) will be discussed in chapter
five of this paper. According to Thering (2007), action
research is a potentially successful method for allowing
communities, especially those that have undergone
6
environmental or social traumas, to enhance their capacity
to imagine a better future. The author uses the AMD&Art
project as a case study, and includes actual survey results
and baseline data to measure community capacity for
imagining a better future. The author herself admits “the
validity of the process is more dependent on the
researcher’s familiarity with the complexity of issues
facing the community in question than on knowledge of
statistics” (Thering, 2007, p. 7) and this gives an
indication of the problems inherent in measuring the success
of all projects, past and future. The subjectivity of a
project’s success will be considered and predicted in my
paper, and suggestions will include alternatives for
measuring data within the community.
Finally, as the recent literature has not sufficiently
covered Australia’s potential for artist-led remediation
projects (Mudd, 2013; Unger et al, 2013; McHenry, 2011;
Digby, 2008), focusing instead on issues of mining industry
failures, public participation and rural empowerment, I aim
to produce a set of guidelines for artists and communities
wishing to undertake such projects. These guidelines will
acknowledge the necessity for projects to be site-responsive
and site-specific (Heyd, 2007), but will also aim to include
recommendations such as the vital contribution of key
stakeholders. Using the North American and European case
studies, I will distill the core contents of the relevant
7
texts in order to ascertain the most successful aspects of
the case studies, with the aim of uncovering those success
factors that are transferable to Australian contexts.
Chapter two: Framing the Discussion
2.1 What is remediation?
Any discussion of the remediation of former mine sites, or
indeed any other site, should begin with an analysis of what
remediation actually is: who is it for, what does it
involve, what has it been in the past and how could it be
improved?
8
The terms remediation and reclamation have emerged with
growing awareness of the environmental devastation wreaked
by humans, which has come to the forefront of social
consciousness since the 1960s. In 1973, draft legislation
in the United States defined reclamation of a former mine
site as restoration of the land back to its original state
(Morris, 1980, 88). This was, however, protested by mining
companies, who decried the economic impossibility of
restoring, for example, a huge open cut mine back to its
original natural state. The cost of a reclamation project
of this sort could have been in the billions of dollars, and
would have been so prohibitive that mining operations could
not have commenced in the first place. In 1980, legislation
came into effect in the United States that referred to
‘rehabilitation’ of polluted sites (Heyd, 2007) to be paid
for by the companies that had incurred the pollution in the
first place.
The use of the words rehabilitation, remediation,
reclamation and regeneration are in most texts on this
subject almost interchangeable. The word ‘remediation’
comes from the Latin remedium, which means to heal or to
cure, whereas ‘reclamation’ has a more proprietary tone,
implying the retrieval or recovery of a piece of land. In
this paper, I will use employ the word remediation to mean
9
not only the environmental healing but also the reimagining
of a site: looking forward and being active in that
reimagining, rather than sleepwalking into “a future we are
aimlessly concocting” (Lippard, 1997, 7).
The shifts in social, environmental, economic and political
systems that have occurred since the time of the first Land
Art works in the 1960s cannot be underestimated, but they
can be traced through the changing descriptive language for
this kind of art: the kind that exists outside the gallery,
is site-specific and employs found materials or landscapes
to create large-scale works. This kind of art was called
Land or Earth art in the 1960s and 70s, and is now more
often called Eco Art or Environmental Art, and this shift in
nomenclature reflects some of the political and ethical
debates in this field over the last 50 years.
Developed in the United States and Europe, Earth and Land
art was one of last nails in modernism’s coffin, when the
dematerialisation of the art object and the expansion of
art’s field of operations beyond the gallery walls were well
underway. The movement’s roots were firmly planted in
conceptual and minimal art, installation art and the Fluxus
and Arte Povera movements, and many artists from those early
years, including Robert Smithson, described the influence of
10
landscape and garden design on their work (Fain, 2011, p.
25).
Terms such as Earth or Land art have been used to refer to a
wide range of works: large-scale outdoor sculptures,
temporary interventions in a landscape, the installation
within a gallery of work made from natural or found
materials, earthworks, ecological performance art, art parks
and sculpture gardens, architectural installations and of
course, remediation or reclamation projects. In contemporary
art, it is likely that all of these works would be described
as Environmental or Eco Art.
The change in the way this sort of work is labelled reflects
a shift in the way this kind of art is made, and how it is
considered. Originally, Land art was almost exclusively
conceived and built (or its construction directed) by a solo
male artist, who rarely resorted to what we would now
describe as “collaboration”, “community consultations” or
“participatory practices”. Works such as Smithson’s famous
Spiral Jetty (1970) were grand designs that, although often
responding to the landscape in some way, represented the
vision of a single artist, rather than attempting to engage
the wishes or needs of the local community, or to address
the history of a place or its Indigenous people.
11
Environmental or social concerns were not the primary
impetus behind the first Land Art works.
A brief summary of some of the ethical issues revolving
around remediation art is necessary. The early Earthwork
artists such as Smithson were criticised for their ‘macho’
gestures in the land, for treating the land as “mere
material” (Heyd, 2002, p.6), for the imposition of their
aesthetic vision on land that had been effectively
transformed into a blank canvas by the ravages of industry.
The site-specificity of these large monumental works has
been described as “incidental” (Brisini, 2012, p. 53), and
their construction methods often appropriated those of
industries such as mining, using large earth-moving
machinery and invasive procedures.
Implicit in these criticisms of Earth Art is an idealised
vision of nature as a pure and untouched system, before
humans negatively impacted upon it. Recent texts such as
those by Brisini (2012), Carney (2010) and Turner (2007)
have exposed this utopian approach, critiquing it as a
refutation of nature’s entropic systems, its elemental chaos
and its boundless capacity for change. As Heyd (2002, p. 1)
points out, the phrase “nature restoration” is an oxymoron,
as humans could never restore a thing or place that was not
created by them in the first place.
12
Remediation art has also been accused of condoning the
destructive practices of industry by creating aesthetically
pleasing spaces from its waste, particularly when it is
funded by government or mining companies (Collins et al,
1997 and Morris, 1980). There is a fine line to be walked
in any such project, and the guidelines created by writers
such as Tim Collins (2003) on the treatment of post-
industrial space are useful: these include revealing
industrial heritage rather than cloaking it in nostalgia,
revealing social conflicts and the potential for dynamic
change, rather than suppressing them, and embracing and
supporting ecosystems and sustainability. Contemporary
participatory art practices are best placed to adhere to
these principles, as can be seen in the case studies
discussed in Chapter 4.
Another ethical concern has centred on the concept of
aesthetics. Art has traditionally been seen as representing
the interface between culture and nature (Hicks et al, 2007,
p. 332), an interpretation of our place within the world.
This has often manifested as artists or designers attempting
to impose a human aesthetic order on the natural world, in
the form of gardens, parks or other designed landscapes.
Frederick Turner, in his pivotal text Valuing Alteration (2007),
suggests that remediation or reclamation art must not
attempt to impose order on a landscape; rather, it should
13
facilitate entropic change and set up systems of control
that are responsive, and are “based on feedback rather than
coercion or force” (Turner, 2007, p. 9). My evaluation of
the three case studies in Chapter 4 will consider whether
this is indeed a successful approach; but first, a
discussion of the aesthetics of collaboration and relational
aesthetics in contemporary art.
2.2 Contemporary Earth art, environmentalism, relational aesthetics
The rise of participatory, collaborative practices in
contemporary art has been linked to the rise of the biennial
form (Bishop, 2006). Biennials present work that is often
internationalist in outlook yet addressing the local, a
phenomenon sometimes referred to as “glocalisation” (Holton,
2000, p. 144). Work created for biennials is often
temporary, site-specific or responsive, and often involves
artists working with local residents or community groups in
order to realise the work. This kind of work is also
described as relational aesthetics, a term coined by curator
Nicolas Bourriaud in his 1998 text of the same name.
The rise of ideas of relational aesthetics embodies a
continuing resolution of those criticisms of early Earth Art
mentioned in Chapter 1: that artists were imposing their
14
singular aesthetic values and artistic vision on landscapes.
Employing relational aesthetics in the creation of work is a
way to ensure that contemporary Environmental Art is site
and community-responsive, rather than intrusive or
insensitive to landscape and communities. In Australia, any
engagement with the land must address Indigenous histories
and rights.
The very nature of remediation projects, among other forms
of Earth or Environmental Art, ensures that these works are
not “commodity production items” (Morris, 1980, p. 97): ie.
they exist outside traditional art markets and therefore
outside modernist narratives and capitalist processes. They
are, however, inextricably linked to capitalism at their
core – the development (and boom and bust cycles) of world
resource markets has led us to the present. Therefore, a
method of artistic practice involving relational aesthetics,
which involves participation and collaboration, is the best
approach for remediation projects. The collaborative input
of people of many different backgrounds and with diverse
skills is also beneficial for large remediation projects
that may require social, artistic and scientific expertise.
Claire Bishop criticised Bourriaud’s idea of relational
aesthetics, suggesting that he was promoting aesthetic
judgement of a work based on the quality of its
15
participatory elements (Bishop, 2004). She stated that the
sort of participatory art to be found in contemporary art
biennials was not democratic at all, that its forms of
participation and the ‘relations’ it produced were not
reflective of an actual democracy as they did not encompass
or produce conflict. Bishop carefully selected as examples
work which could indeed be interpreted as utopian or
microtopian, such as Liam Gillick and Rirkrit Tiravanija. It
is, however, more important to apply this concern to
contemporary environmental art, which does require
participation in a more urgent way than art that exists to
be shown within a gallery or museum space. Environmental
art intersects with the daily activities of communities in a
way that much contemporary art does not, and its frame of
operation is often long term and even permanent, unlike the
temporary art of biennials and exhibitions. Therefore, the
‘relationality’ of a remediation project is a vital aspect
of its creation and intention.
2.3 Creative placemaking: Integrating civic memory and looking to the future
Alongside relational aesthetics, another phrase has entered
today’s cultural jargon: ‘creative placemaking’. This
expression is a more politically correct way to describe
16
urban regeneration or redevelopment, and also applies to a
more abstract and long term transformation of a piece of
land, with cultural usage in mind for the future. Many
authors have considered the words place and landscape, and the
difference between the two, including Lucy Lippard (1997)
and Thomas Heyd (2007). Contemporary artists working in
remediation and reclamation would do well to consider
Lippard’s thoughts on the two words: “place...is a layered
location replete with human histories and memories…the
external world mediated through human subjective experience”
(Lippard, 1997, p. 7).
A mine site is an illustration of this definition: sites
where immense physical changes have been wrought on the
land, and where human lives have been changed and, often,
lost. Often a mine was the foundation of the nearby town
and brought into being entire communities, made up of
countless personal histories. As time passes, the land
becomes depleted and mining companies move on. In the past,
there were no measures or legislation to protect mine sites
or to ensure their remediation after the miners or mining
company had moved on. Of course, there is often also no
economic protection for communities that depend on these
industries for their continued livelihoods and quality of
life. As Hicks and King point out, “activists and scholars
within the environmental justice movement and civic
17
environmentalism have pointed out how threats to the natural
world intersect with issues of social injustice and
disempowered communities” (Hicks et al, 2007 p. 334).
Deindustrialisation has led to unemployment and the collapse
of communities across the world. Along with this social
disintegration can come the dissolution of a community’s
sense of place, particularly if the local mine was an
integral part of its history. Part of the discussions
revolving around remediation are considerations of the
possibilities of site: leaving a former or derelict mine
site as is (the cheapest option, and arguably a method that
allows for the most ‘natural’ form of reclamation),
restoration to the site’s original state (prohibitively
expensive in most cases, and open to interpretation
concerning the definition or dating of an ‘original’ state)
and the third option: remediation incorporating industrial
histories and heritage, and a sort of redemption through
art. Remediation is the only option that can allow for
healing of both community and landscape, as part of the
creation of place.
When Morris wrote his text, Notes on Art as/and Land Reclamation in
1980, technology and its uses were perceived by Western
society in very different ways than in contemporary (and,
increasingly, global) societies. Technologies including
18
online access, data sharing and also more environmental
technologies such as the use of renewable fuels, have now
become much more integrated into our daily lives. Morris
wrote that “the structural feature of technological
application is one of fragmentation; that of ecological
thinking is, of course, the opposite” (Morris, 1980, p. 93).
This way of thinking is now out of date: the impetus behind
current theories of the democratisation of data, access to
the Internet, and the National Broadband Network, all hinge
on a way of thinking that promotes technology as inclusive
and accessible to all. The time has long passed when
technology was the enemy of nature, and the rise of social
media and its implementation by both social justice
advocates and social and environmental activists has shown
this change in our attitudes towards technology and its
uses.
The harnessing of new technologies is no longer only the
remit of large corporations. The democratisation of data
sharing has shown in the last twenty years that innovative
projects can be instigated and completed by communities,
even with little funding, as seen by the case studies in
Chapter 4. Remediation artists now have at their disposal a
much larger pool of expertise that the Earth artists of the
1960s and 70s, and the ability to source and share
information quickly and easily online. Using social media
19
avenues along with transdisciplinary collaborative methods,
contemporary remediation artists have possible avenues of
working undreamt of by artists such as Morris. The use of
new technologies such as solar power, rainwater harvesting,
sustainable building methods and bioremediation are also
within reach of artists and communities, giving remediation
projects an innovative and cutting-edge aspect that resounds
with the forward-looking nature of creative placemaking.
20
Chapter three: Experimental practice3.1 Art, science and transdisciplinary experimentation The links between artistic and scientific practice have
recently begun to be examined by writers such as Jill
Bennett, who makes a link between the uses of
experimentation in both fields (Bennett, 2007). Art is
described in this text as a form of open-ended
experimentation, one that uses material, form and content;
artists, particularly those who form the avant-garde, also
test social boundaries and conventions. Science is
traditionally seen as a more rational process, a rigorous
and controlled form of experimentation with outcomes that
are measurable. Bennett does not discuss the traditional
dichotomy between art and science, but states merely that
contemporary art has “a long and productive engagement with
this sector [Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics]
and with its contrasting formulations of experimentalism”
(Bennett, 2007, p. 1).
Remediation and Reclamation Art is a demonstration of this
engagement. Fain (2011) adopts Bennett’s brief description
of these productive collaborations and applies it
specifically to the remediation of mine sites led by
contemporary artists. Representing an artistic field that
has as an integral part of its practice the collaboration
21
between artists and scientists, remediation art presents an
opportunity to evaluate the success of transdisciplinary
processes between art and science. In Fain’s 2011 text,
this evaluation is overwhelmingly positive, although
tempered by the harsh realities of government policy and
arts funding.
Measuring the success of collaborations between artists and
scientists is a challenging undertaking. Can the success of
these temporary working partnerships be measured at all, and
if so, how: aesthetically, practically or statistically?
Bennett describes projects that are “impelled by external
conditions” (Bennett, 2007, p. 2) and which have addressed
these in measurable ways. These are projects initiated by
artists such as Nigel Helyer, David Dunn and Natalie
Jeremikenko, which have involved working with scientists or
with scientific approaches or methods. The measurable
outcomes of these projects are linked to the external
conditions by which they are impelled, and therefore the
aesthetic value of the work is an evaluation not made in
this text. Indeed, it may be an aspect that becomes
increasingly unimportant in contemporary transdisciplinary
art works, as suggested by Bishop (2004), particularly when
they are created in response to a specific problem.
22
In the case of remediation art, when the artist is
“reconceptualising public space in a way that inserts an
artist’s viewpoint into a set of pragmatic operations”
(Bennett, 2007, p. 2), an aesthetic evaluation can become
secondary to environmental and community concerns. Most
remediation art has not only subsumed scientific methods and
approaches, but also a form of experimentation traditionally
the preserve of scientists: that is, experimentation with
measurable outcomes.
3.2 Politics and participation: Art as activism
Remediation and reclamation art works do, however, have an
added component to these measurable outcomes, a component
that is more unpredictable: activism. As discussed by
Bishop in her text on collaborative contemporary art
practices, these works often form part of a “socially
ameliorative tradition” (Bishop, 2006, p. 180), a
description that implies past conflicts and crises of a
community or group of people. To these ingredients can be
added the problems experienced by a landscape impacted by
social histories, such as mining practices. Activism enters
this debate when issues are addressed, and is the impetus
behind much contemporary Environmental Art.
23
In Chapter 2, the criticisms levelled at some of the early
Land and Earth artists such as Smithson and Morris were
considered. These included criticisms of interventionism
and insensitive practices, in the name of aesthetic value.
Environmental activism has developed and strengthened since
the 1960s and 1970s, and with the awareness of environmental
issues, is now far more widespread than at that earlier
time. The rise of social media, ‘clicktivism’ and
‘glocalisation’ has occurred concurrently to this growing
awareness. It could be argued that social media is
contributing to increasing activism, even in regional areas,
due to increased connectivity locally and more widely. Comp
(2007, p. 65) suggests that small or regional towns are
unlikely sites for civic activism but this is becoming
increasingly untrue.
Remediation Art can be considered the logical outcome of
decades of environmental activism: the next step in a
healthy system, whereby artists and communities address the
“external conditions” described by Bennett (2007, p. 2),
taking future urban and landscape development and
reclamation into the hands of the participants, rather than
waiting for government intervention. Indeed, in the case
studies examined below, the projects are, to varying
degrees, the end results of years of civic activism,
political engagement and social organisation.
24
Some contemporary art (particularly landscape photography)
that addresses environmental degradation has been accused of
depicting the “toxic sublime” (Peeples, 2011), transforming
toxic landscapes into aesthetically pleasing art works, such
as in the photographs of Edward Burtynsky. The stated
intention of these works may be to raise awareness of human
impact on landscapes, but the result, as described by
Peeples, is the creation of a new image of the ‘sublime’, a
“mental state caused by our inability to fathom the power,
vastness, magnitude and magnificence of an object witnessed”
(Peeples, 2011, p. 379). The danger in this awe is
complacency, a lack of critical evaluation and engagement
with the reality depicted. Remediation Art does not simply
reflect social or environmental problems, nor seek to create
what Heyd, after Foucault, refers to as ‘heterotopias’
(Heyd, 2007, p. 343): spaces that are perfect, well-arranged
and meticulous in their construction. The political
challenge of remediation art lies in its representation of
both the entropic chaos of nature, as well as the disordered
and dangerous results of human intervention in a landscape,
whilst simultaneously seeking to address the negative
aspects of these issues.
25
3.3 Democratic discourse and the benefits of collaboration
It is in collaboration that the political and aesthetic
aspects of remediation can be merged. A defining and
thoroughly examined aspect of remediation and reclamation
projects (Brisini, 2012; Fain, 2011) has been the input of
the communities concerned, although this process is bound to
result in some of the antagonism described by Claire Bishop
(2004). This antagonism is described by Bishop as being an
integral part of democratic processes: and therefore, the
remediation artist must be prepared to act as mediator
between conflicting interests and opinions within
communities on the future uses of land.
Democratic discourse must involve long-term processes of
consultation, workshops, the collecting of oral histories,
evaluating community concerns and desires. These processes
are a vital and necessary part of a successful project, as
demonstrated by the case studies discussed below, as well as
by past projects internationally, whose success can be
measured in their longevity and cultural development
contributions, even if the aesthetic value is open to
debate.
26
The remediation artist must tread a fine line between the
roles of political activist, visionary, designer, mediator
and project leader. The labour intensiveness of
collaborations, and the potential for conflict, has been
described by many writers (Brisini, 2012; Carney, 2010;
Stokols, 2006) as a problem that must be addressed by
remediation artists and in the design of their projects: it
must be allowed for, and anticipated. This aspect of
collaboration should not be seen as a deterrent and rather
considered a positive ingredient in a successful remediation
project. If conflict is predicted, it will not outweigh the
ultimate benefits of collaboration. These include a project
that can heal a landscape and a community, provide economic
benefits and an increase in regional tourism, along with
providing environmental benefits to the landscape, cross-
cultural communication during the processes of
collaboration, and stimulating experimentation in artistic,
scientific and technological practices.
The case studies in the following chapter share an important
factor: none of them are known by the names of the
initiating artists. AMD&Art, the Nine Mile Run Greenway
Project and Emscher Park are named in response to site and,
in the first case, to the environmental problem that gave
rise to the project itself. This renunciation of “authorial
presence” (Bishop, 2006, p. 183) is an important and often
27
overlooked component of remediation art. It is vital that
the artist or artists who initiate future projects consider
themselves part of a larger whole, be it a landscape, a
project, a community or a future. Their artistic autonomy,
whilst not being subsumed by the state or by industry
interests, should come second to the project, wherein “the
experience of the work is the experience of the place”
(Collins et al, 1997, p. 191).
28
Chapter four: Case studies of artist-led remediation projects in Europe and North America
4.1 AMD&Art, Pennsylvania
The small town of Vintondale in Pennsylvania, USA, began to
undergo a transformation in 1994. Growing from the Earth
art traditions of the 1960s, AMD&Art was a not-for-profit
organisation founded by Dr T. Allan Comp, a historian
working in the US Department of the Interior’s Office of
Surface Mining. The project involved collaboration between
artists, engineers and scientists, along with the entire
community of Vintondale. The town, with a population of
around 500 people, was a former coal-mining community, and
its landscape had become severely affected by Acid Mine
Drainage (AMD), a toxic mix of sulphuric acid and iron that
affects waterways, plant and animal life. The mining
operations had been unregulated and had abandoned the site
in the 1970s.
The AMD&Art project’s main aim was to remediate a 35-acre
section of land, creating a combined water treatment
facility and public space. The aim of the project was
clearly stated in the organisation’s publicity collateral:
“Artfully Transforming Environmental Liabilities Into
29
Community Assets”, a mission statement that neatly
encapsulates the three aspects of all successful artist-led
remediation projects: art, environment and community.
AMD&Art built a series of passive treatment ponds that flow
into a seven-acre wetland area, before emptying into the
main creek. The park functions as an outdoor sculpture park
and a green public space for the community and tourists, who
are enticed to the area by the fame and innovation of the
project. Relics of colliery buildings and mining equipment
have been left to stand amongst the green space, as a
reminder of the area’s history.
When T. Allan Comp and his core team (which included
hydrologist Bob Deason, sculptor Stacy Levy and landscape
designer Julie Bargman) began this project, their first
action was to effectively undo the clumsy and unsympathetic
remediation attempts of a government-initiated Rural
Abandoned Mineland Project from the early 1980s (Comp,
2007). This earlier project had involved the abandoned mine
site being covered or capped with a large expanse of raw or
waste coal, which was four to eight feet deep across the
site. This was painstakingly removed by AMD&Art before the
creation of the passive treatment ponds and wetlands.
The artistic ingredients of this project are numerous: the
concept itself, the landscape design and the installation of
30
both temporary and permanent art works on site. The
innovation of the project lies in its conjoining of art,
science and participatory design. Community cultural
development is an integral part of the AMD&Art project, and
without the involvement of residents, the project would not
have been successful in its implementation or longevity.
The inherently experimental aspects of art-making (Bennett,
2007) lend themselves to remediation projects that stretch
over many years and require creative solutions to complex
problems. Experimentation is a “disposition, a drive to
question, transgress and reinvent” (Bennett, 2007, p. 1) and
this applies to experimentation in both artistic practice
and scientific research: the drive to explore, discover and
push boundaries. These are characteristics that make
artists and scientists increasingly open to cross
communication and interdisciplinary work, putting an end to
the traditional separation of the two fields. Reclamation
projects such as AMD&Art demonstrate the benefits of both
transdisciplinary practice and democratic discourse, as
discussed in Chapter 3.
31
Figure 1: The Ghost Town Trail bicycle track, part of the
AMD&Art site, with slag heap in the background.
The AMD&Art project won the 2005 EPA Phoenix Award, the
first national EPA Brownfields award presented for community
impact on mine-scarred lands, along with other awards for
green design and wetlands creation. Today, the site
attracts 75,000 bicyclists a year, along with hikers and
other visitors (Reece, 2002, 6). The community’s sense of
place has been restored, with their Town Planning Commission
restarted after 30 years of inactivity. (Reece, 2002, 7).
As an “art site whose existence goes beyond aesthetic
expression and actively seeks to ameliorate some
32
environmental harm or condition” (Brisini, 2012, 5) the
project is a roaring success. AMD&Art not only responded or
reflected an external condition, but it has actually
improved it.
T. Allan Comp has written about the problem of “being too
environmental for the arts funders and too artsy for the
environmental funders” (Comp, 2007, p. 66), and this is
surely a problem that has beset many remediation projects,
especially when seeking funding from government agencies who
require quantitative data and statistics as part of their
evaluations. Comp admitted that the entire project was
designed, staffed and managed almost exclusively by
volunteers, and yet he simultaneously and categorically
states that it would not have come to fruition without the
support of local, state and federal agencies, who “made the
project possible” (Comp, 2007, p. 66).
This is an issue that should be more clearly researched
before any remediation project commences, as it is untenable
for a project to be maintained indefinitely by volunteers or
unpaid community workers, regardless of the level of initial
government support. Although the AMD&Art project was a
success in terms of the creation of a renowned place that
succeeded in scientifically addressing the external issue of
Acid Mine Drainage, as well as providing a public space for
33
the community and a famous tourist attraction, measuring its
success in the long term will be dependent on continuing
support from funding bodies for maintenance of the site. As
the site was created as a public space, and was supported by
government funding initially, it should be maintained by
government funding in much the same way as a nature reserve
or public park.
The conflicts that arose during the planning of this project
included disparities between community and artistic wishes
for the site. The Vintondale community requested picnic
tables and a baseball course, rather than the design team’s
waterways and public art (Brisini, 2012, p. 13). As these
wishes emerged early in the processes of consultation, they
were honoured and the end result included community
resources and leisure facilities as well as public art
components. This proves that regular consultative processes
are vital to understand and respond to disparate desires and
plans amongst diverse stakeholders in any given project and
that a high degree of compromise and consensus can be
achieved.
The success of the AMD&Art Project has also been ensured by
the use of self-maintaining systems within the site
(Brisini, 2012). These systems include phytoremediation
methods that require little to no continuing maintenance,
34
such as the passive treatment ponds, reed beds and stands of
trees such as the Litmus Garden, which demonstrates the
progressive cleansing of the waterways using the colour of
foliage in the trees chosen. In Australia, the policy
concerning abandoned mines suggests that the maintenance of
a site be the responsibility of what is described as
“impacted stakeholders” (MCMPR, 2010, p. 31), ie. the
community and local businesses. A more realistic and cost-
effective approach is to follow the lead of AMD&Art,
maximising the use of self-maintaining bioremediation
systems in potential future projects. However, some
problems concerning maintenance of the site have been
reported (Fain, 2011, p. 94), despite the creation of the
local watershed association to manage the continuing care of
the site.
The AMD&Art project was an overall success in the eyes of
its own designers. T. Allan Comp, who initiated the
project, has been quoted as saying that he feels more
committed than ever to the idea that “arts and the
humanities are absolutely necessary to environmental
recovery…art and history, combined with science, will
ultimately change the way we think about an industrial
economy that is destroying the very ecosystems that sustain
us, and all life” (Reece, 2002, p. 10).
35
4.2 Nine Mile Run Greenway Project, Pennsylvania (NMR-GP)
The Studio for Creative Inquiry (SFCI) is a research
facility within the College of Fine Arts at Carnegie Mellon
University in Pittsburgh, USA. It is an interdisciplinary
department in which artists collaborate with scientists,
designers, architects and others on projects that provide
opportunities for collaborative exchange and learning.
The Nine Mile Run Greenway Project was developed within the
Studio for Creative Inquiry between the years of 1996 and
1999.
Nine Mile Run is a 23-acre valley site in Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania, which had been used between 1930 and 1972 as a
dumping ground for a steel industry slag disposal company.
It featured heavily polluted waterways and slag heaps. In
1995, the City of Pittsburgh commissioned a plan for the
site, which resulted in zoning for 1200 residential units
and a 100-acre public park. To put this plan into reality,
the City was responsive to a proposal from the Studio for
Creative Inquiry to manage a remediation project on this
site.
36
The Nine Mile Run Greenway Project was designed in three
stages (Collins, 2003). The first involved a prolonged
series of community consultations, the second was a detailed
biological study of the site, and the third stage was a
presentation of possible designs to the local community and
the finalisation of a master plan for the site. In total,
the project took three years.
Tim Collins, one of the three main instigators of this
project (the others being Reiko Goto and Bob Bingham), has
written extensively on the subject of Nine Mile Run and the
challenges it presented. He stated that the project had its
roots in Joseph Beuys’ idea of ‘social sculpture’ (Collins,
2003, p. 463), whereby art is liberated from its
“objectness” (Fain, 2011, p. 22) and the boundaries of the
gallery walls. Beuys believed that society itself was
sculpture, and that the lines dividing nature and culture
were fluid and reciprocal. Collins and the other Nine Mile
Run Greenway Project leaders harnessed these ideas, ensuring
that ‘society’ was involved at every stage of the project.
They did this by embedding community consultations,
workshops and surveys in their master plan and during every
evaluation period.
In 1998, a joint publication documenting the results of the
first two stages of the project was released, published by
37
the Studio for Creative Inquiry, the Carnegie Mellon
University, the City of Pittsburgh and the Carnegie Museum
of Natural History. It was titled The Nine Mile Run Watershed
Rivers Conservation Plan, and it encapsulated the progress of the
project to date, incorporating the results of expert designs
modified following community input. Artists, zoologists,
landscape architects and civil engineers contributed to this
document, which was used in the closing stages of the
project as a summary of work done and as an instruction
manual in the establishment of the Nine Mile Run Watershed
Association, which was formed to continue the management of
the site.
This planning aspect means that the continuing maintenance
of the site is assured, and the release of a publication
provides a snapshot of the site that can be referred to in
future. This is valuable documentation and can be used as a
template for other projects, in respect to its layout and
the collaborative authorship model used in its creation.
The input of researchers, scientists, artists, museum
curators and government workers represents an innovation in
publishing, ensuring that the document has a life outside
the academic or public service realms.
38
At the close of the project, Collins described the unifying
theory behind this project as “reclamation as an integrated
ecosystem restoration that embraces the complex goal of
'nature' in the context of contemporary urban culture”
(Collins, 2000, p. 462). This is a goal that requires an
experimental approach, as its complexity calls for detailed
study and input from many different sources. Collins also
refers in this text to the concept of ‘care’, an idea that
finds its complement in the concept of curating. The word
curate has its roots in the Latin verb curare: to care.
Caring for a site or a landscape can be compared to a
curatorial approach, which, in its most successful
manifestations, calls for detailed research and study.
Curating the land is a way of thinking about remediation
projects such as the Nine Mile Run Greenway Project.
4.3 Emscher Park, Ruhr Valley, Germany
39
The Ruhr Valley was the heartland of Germany’s mining
industry until the 1970s, when international steel and coal
markets shifted and mines began to close. The brownfields
of the Ruhr Valley presented a huge challenge for
remediation, and the Emscher River, running through the
Ruhr, became the focus for Europe’s largest remediation
project. The river flows for approximately 350 kilometres
through 17 different local authorities. As a result of the
extensive mining and industrialisation of the area, the
river had become severely contaminated, carrying both human
and industrial waste. In 1989, the Internationale
Bauaustellung (IBA) Emscher Park was formed by the State
Government of North Rhine-Westphalia, and the major
restoration program commenced.
The two objectives of the project were to repair the
environmental damage to the landscape and to design urban
communities of the future. Over a decade, IBA Emscher Park
hosted workshops, international design competitions and
public planning sessions, stimulating participatory design
in the creation of over 100 separate projects on five
different sites, covering 800 square kilometres between
Duisburg and Kamen. Innovative architectural designs were
created during these workshops, and the involvement of local
communities ensured that the final results responded to
regional needs, creating a sense of place whilst celebrating
the region’s industrial heritage.
41
The impetus behind this large project was to address the
“high rates of unemployment and a shrinking population” in
the region (Franz et al, 2008, p. 317). The work of
architects and designers was integral from the beginning of
the project, and it was instigated and overseen by Dr Karl
Ganser, a biologist and urban planner who was also trained
as a geologist and chemist. This visionary planner faced
numerous challenges in the project’s development, including
funding challenges, conflict with property developers and
public approbation. As a recent text points out, the
collective and collaborative planning approach utilised by
Ganser can lead to a “social acceptance of site… [and] the
opening of a site to the public should not only be
accompanied by a transparent risk communication but also a
strategy of ‘place-making’ as a concept of collective
appropriation” (Franz et al, 2008, p. 323).
The Emscher Park project incorporated into the final site
research centres, business parks, shopping centres,
renaturalised watercourses, recreational areas, a
“technology cluster” (Franz et al, 2008, p. 318) comprising
33 companies, and parks such as the Landschaftspark pictured
above. Its holistic approach meant that the regeneration of
the site was comprehensive, including not only cultural
centres, but also retail and business locations. This
42
project had the opportunity to repurpose industrial
buildings such as warehouses and factories, and its funding
was a mix of private, government and partnerships between
the two.
The artistic components of the project stimulated
controversy amongst the public consultations and workshops
in the initial stages of planning, with some members of the
public of the opinion that the funding of such art works
would be better spent on social concerns such as rent-
controlled housing. However, art works proved to be some of
the most popular aspects of the site. An example of this is
the night lighting that was designed in response to oral
histories describing the closing of the factories as “though
the night sky had died” (Labelle, 2001, p. 4). These night
lighting schemes, which incorporate renewable technology,
enliven the industrial landscape and also pay tribute to the
heritage of the past.
The success of this project was dependent on an innovative
scheme that integrated existing buildings with green spaces
(Franz et al, 2008; Loures et al, 2008). It also hinged on
the presence of a large population in the vicinity, a factor
not available to many potential projects repurposing
derelict mines in Australia. However, the Emscher Park
project also showed that regional tourism could be
43
dramatically increased to the area, along with local usage:
the ‘Route of Industrial Culture’ is a driving and biking
route for tourists which has been well used since it was
built (Labelle, 2001).
4.4 Evaluation of case studies
How are such projects to be assessed? In terms of wildlife,
community benefits, tourism? As discussed in earlier
chapters, an aesthetic evaluation of these remediation
projects is a subjective undertaking, and in terms of
community and social concerns, not particularly useful. The
result of the projects will almost always be an improvement
on the toxic, contaminated landscapes that remain in post-
industrial areas. There must be a balance between
evaluating such projects purely in terms of the amount of
collaboration, as debated by Bishop (2004, 2006), whether
that is interdisciplinary or between artists and
communities, and in terms of aesthetic value.
The best form of evaluation is to take a forward-looking and
broad view of such projects, encompassing communities,
environments and artistic concerns. Remediation must
involve not just the healing or recovering of a landscape
but also renewal, reimagining and recreating of site: in
44
short, the creation of place. In economic terms, the
investment in such projects must be weighed against the
long-term benefits and returns.
All three of the case studies examined above were successful
according to these measures. They were all specifically
designed with the site in mind, and in collaboration with
communities. Figures documenting increased tourist numbers
and employment in the regions in question show positive
change (Brisini, 2012; Heyd, 2007; Labelle, 2001; Collins et
al, 1997). Environmental improvement was not a difficult
change to make in such contaminated landscapes, and the
return of wildlife and natural diversity is also well
documented (Turner, 2007; Heyd, 2002; Collins, 2000).
45
Chapter five: Curating the land: Applicationsin Australia 5.1 Using action research methodologies
Kurt Lewin was a German-American social psychologist who in
1946 coined the term “action research” to describe a method
involving communities working closely with psychologists to
diagnose social problems and develop collaborative methods
for solving such problems (Stokols, 2006). This paper
suggests building on Lewin’s work by outlining programmatic
directions for the scientific study of transdisciplinary
research and community action. Three types of collaboration,
and the contextual circumstances that facilitate or hinder
them, should be examined before any remediation project
commences: collaboration among scholars representing
different disciplines; collaboration among researchers from
multiple fields and community practitioners representing
diverse professional and lay perspectives; and collaboration
among community organisations across local, state, national,
and international levels.
The process of action research has been shown to be one of
the most effective means of understanding these different
forms of collaboration, and a successful way of responding
to complex situations (Thering, 2007). Communities dealing
with the repercussions of environmental damage and economic
46
shifts are shown to benefit from projects that define their
capacity to imagine a better future, and action research
initiatives can enhance these projects, deepening community
engagement and long-term involvement. Action research is
also documented as effective in initiating action and change
towards sustainability (Stokols, 2006).
Involving communities in the action research process builds
capacity within the communities as well as provide
significant impetus for them to critically examine
sustainability issues and contribute to local mine site
rehabilitation and reuse. In particular, project teams
working in partnership with members of the communities in
undertaking the action research projects provide significant
incentives for them to become agents of change within their
own communities. This is developed by a system of community
consultations that define relevant local requirements for
any future remediation. By involving the community in the
initial stages of planning, future concerns can be
ascertained and addressed in the project’s infancy. These
community needs should be documented to allow for project
results to be evaluated successfully throughout the stages
of the remediation.
The method of action research is structured around a
sustained series of consultative meetings, evaluations and
47
translation of research findings into policies. A staggered
series of grassroots-level consultations within communities
has been shown to be more effective in identifying social
issues than top-down, one-off projects initiated by local or
State government (Thering, 2007). The findings of these
consultations shape and direct the relevant research, which
is represented to community representatives at each stage of
the project, before being legitimised in policy.
Communities dealing with the repercussions of environmental
damage and economic shifts are shown to benefit from
projects that define their capacity to imagine a better
future, and action research initiatives can enhance these
projects, deepening community engagement and long-term
involvement. Action research is also documented as
effective in initiating action and change towards
sustainability, and can produce results that transcend
“civilian boundaries” (Thering, 2007, p. 5).
Action research encourages communicative learning, and is
particularly useful in projects involving not only
communities, but also experts in diverse fields such as
biology, environmental science, design and architecture.
Transdisciplinary research is facilitated by action research
methodology, by making the community and its needs the
central impetus for any project and thereby giving experts
48
an external focus and a goal around which to structure their
collaborations.
5.2 Projects involving former mine sites in Australia
As the Australian mining boom begins to show signs of
fading, the time is ripe to consider the future of the
50,000 abandoned mine sites across the nation, although this
must be managed carefully (Unger et al, 2012). Since 2010,
when the Strategic Framework for Managing Abandoned Mines in the
Minerals Industry was released by the Ministerial Council on
Mineral and Petroleum Resources, together with the Minerals
Council of Australia, Australian government departments,
communities and private companies have been considering ways
to rehabilitate and remediate former mine sites. These
abandoned mines are defined as: “mines where mining leases
or titles no longer exist, and responsibility for
rehabilitation cannot be allocated to any individual,
company or organisation responsible for the original mining
activities” (MCMPR, 2010).
49
The problem of unremediated and derelict mine sites is not
limited to Australia. The three remediation projects
examined in Chapter 4 involved transdisciplinary practice;
experimental, collaborative practice that is impelled by
arguably more dramatic “external conditions” than Bennett
discussed (Bennett, 2012, 11). In the situations examined
here, the external condition was an abandoned mine site,
which presented very different and complex problems in each
context.
In Australia, the remediation of mine sites is, for the most
part, entrusted to the mining companies or to government
departments. A recent disastrous attempt at remediation in
the Sugarloaf State Conservation Area resulted in massive
subsidence and a concreted creek bed, with untold damage to
local animal and plant species. Some mining companies in
Australia are, however, involved in positive change and
creative projects. Rio Tinto is collaborating with
Fremantle-based arts organization DADAA Inc., to realise a
project addressing mental health in rural communities.
Harnessing the skills of miners and the knowledge of
Indigenous leaders, artists will work towards creating
large-scale public art works. Arts Victoria is also joining
in, with its Small Towns Transformation funding towns such
as Neerim and Dookie, where an old mining quarry will be
repurposed to a performance and projection space. In New
50
South Wales, the town of Broken Hill is a thriving artistic
centre, with many galleries and museums celebrating its
mining history. This year it will play host to an outpost
of the Sydney Fringe Festival. Meanwhile, in Tasmania,
David Walsh’s Museum of Old and New Art will host a ‘Heavy
Metal’ Festival to raise awareness of contamination in the
Derwent River in 2014. This project aims to bring
scientists and artist together in a series of symposiums to
explore options for remediation.
These small projects are a good start, but there is still
much to do. More research into international precedents of
mine reclamation and remediation should be undertaken.
Site-specific projects must be supported by the incoming
Australian government, and suitably funded. A new approach
needs to be developed for a positive and innovative take on
'rehabilitation' that is of simultaneous interest in
corporate, environmental and social contexts, which could be
applicable to a wide range of mine rehabilitation
situations, regardless of funding, community size and level
of artistic exposure and literacy. By embedding visual
artists, scientists and creative practitioners within
regional communities during the initial stages of
remediation projects, resulting benefits will include skills
development in small towns, and the potential to develop
interdisciplinary methodologies between art and science.
51
Chapter six: Recommendations for the future 6.1 Guidelines for remediation projects in Australia
Many rural communities in Australia have shown themselves to
be resilient, creative and dynamic, and the arts have been
proved to contribute towards this resilience (Anwar McHenry,
2011). However, Australia has conditions that differ
greatly from other countries and any remediation projects
here must consider the impact of the tyranny of distance and
small rural populations. Emscher Park in the Ruhr Valley
benefited from millions of people living in the vicinity, a
captive audience who were invested in the region in personal
histories and cultural connections. However, the AMD&Art
project demonstrates the potential success for much smaller
communities: the population of Vintondale is small (around
500 people) and remains small to this day. The project’s
success was shown not only through community engagement but
also in increased tourism numbers.
52
Internationally, groups like the Centre for Land Use
Interpretation in Los Angeles, the Studio for Creative
Inquiry at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, the
Land/Art group in New Mexico, and the College of Fine Art
(University of NSW) Curating Cities project are moving
things along, but a concerted effort in Australia is
required to facilitate creative projects on former mine
sites, of which there are no shortage. Funding needs to be
sourced and artists inspired. One way of stimulating
artistic interest and engagement is through national and
international artist residencies, which should be
established at derelict mine sites. Another is by offering
incentives for art/science collaborations experimenting with
new forms of phytoremediation and renewable technologies, or
tax incentives to mining industry stakeholders who wish to
fund such projects.
The remediation of sites like the Sydney Olympic Park has
shown that it is feasible and beneficial for such projects
to take place in Australia. Other sites, such as the Museum
of Old and New Art, prove that domestic tourism is a
significant economic force and that people are willing to
travel to far-flung destinations if the venue is outstanding
and innovative.
53
The literature on the three case studies in Chapter 4 is
lacking in detail in one important respect: documentation of
liaison with Indigenous groups and collaboration with them
on expressing the history of the site and its Indigenous
cultural significance. Any large remediation projects to
take place in Australia must take the rights and histories
of the First Australians, who were creating Land and Earth
Art much earlier than the 1960s, into account. The success,
ethical strength and long term survival of any such
remediation project depends on this collaboration. Just as
it is vital that the local community is involved in a
remediation project, so too is it crucially important that
Indigenous members of those communities are consulted and
included in all stages of planning.
Ten suggested guidelines for remediation projects in
Australia are:
54
1. Setting an example: Consider any project a potential
framework for future projects. Consider the project a
learning process, rather than focusing on the end
product. Document each stage so that future project
leaders can make use of problems and conflicts,
negotiations and solutions.
2. Use local resources: Establish everything that can be
sourced locally, be it labour force, in-kind support,
volunteers, designed products or artistic and
scientific input. The more involvement the local
community has in the project, the more successful it
will ultimately be.
3. Foster local identity and aim to create a sense of
place: Gather local histories, both human and natural,
and use the project as a form of placemaking. Public
participation in recounting oral histories and
narratives will serve to give any remediation project a
focus, and a site a documented history of its own.
4. Broaden the policy environment: Documentation of each
stage of the project will expand the possibilities for
policy change, and can be used in future legislative
amendments. Both quantitative and qualitative data
should be gathered during the project for this purpose.
55
5. Set goals: define goals at each step of the project,
and change them if necessary. The project should be
clearly and transparently managed, and a series of
defined goals will make large projects manageable.
Action research methodologies support this process.
6. Facilitate innovation and creativity: consider as
integral the input of artists, as well as scientists
and other experts. Go out on a limb and take risks.
7. Publicity: A successful project should generate
publicity and interact with the public through a
variety of online outlets, particularly in areas where
the population may be widely dispersed, and where
accessibility is an issue.
8. Ensure transparency: allow the project to be
independently audited at regular intervals and for the
community to be aware of planning decisions.
9. Organisational structure: Initiate a clear management
structure and allocate appropriate roles.
10. Take responsibility: the onus must be on the
mining industry to fund projects, and if there is no
corporate social responsibility for the site, the
project should be jointly funded by public and private
stakeholders.
56
6.2 Further thoughts
These guidelines are by necessity non-specific, but this is
due to the fact that the most important part of any
potential remediation project is site-specificity. A
project will differ from site to site, and cannot be simply
transposed across the nation. The diversity of our
landscape, histories and population will not allow for
consistency in projects, either in size or in design: this
is, however, a positive fact. Our diversity should be
reflected, and celebrated, by the artists and other creative
minds who will initiate such projects in the future.
For an artist or artist collective approaching the task of
remediation, bearing in mind the lessons of the past is
vital. That past includes the ethical controversies and
debates around Earth and Land Art of the 1960s and 70s, but
also worth considering is the minefield that can await
contemporary artists working in large remediation or
reclamation projects, such as those mentioned above.
Although the literature is overwhelmingly positive on the
outcomes of these projects, it is clear that the process is
a long and involved one, and is not necessarily conducive to
the development of a solo artist’s career. In other words,
transdisciplinary work must not be considered lightly or
superficially; rather, an artist must be prepared to have
57
his or her artistic work subsumed in, or transmogrified by
the overarching reclamation project. Imposing an
individual’s vision on the landscape is not the right
approach, but there is a balance to be struck between this
and interminable projects that become fraught with conflict.
That said, the artist’s role within this sort of project is
crucial: as a visionary, as an instigator, as a project
leader. The expertise of an artist in progressive, long-
term experimental practice is highly relevant and applicable
to reclamation and remediation projects, which encompass
numerous different fields, audiences and materials. The
artist can be seen to be not only collaborating with
scientists, engineers and communities, but also with nature
itself. Embracing entropy and unpredictable systems is part
of an artist’s daily work, and the healing work of
remediation is best overseen by a dedicated and visionary
artist or artists.
58
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