Urban Oldfield: Diagram Of A Vacant Lot

Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia PA 1998 and Armory Center for the Arts, Pasadena CA 2004

3' variable x 65' x 78' Steel rods, with mylar, rubber, paper, leather vinyl and copper tops, particle board floor, sound.

This installation creates a field based on several vacant lots in the neighborhood and details what would be growing on this site if the museum was not here. 13,000 stems of steel with different caps diagram the multiple species of wildflowers and grasses which would be growing in a vacant lot in this region. Each species has different heights and growth patterns, some in great mono-cultural stands, others in the understory, some growing in rosettes, others as singular stems. Paths meander through the lot, allowing viewers to walk through the different communities of plant species. A soundtrack recorded in a nearby vacant lot brings in bird songs, the drone of airplanes and the noise of cars and buses accelerating.