Mel Chin’s Water Resistant Garden Project Rounds out the City of LA’s Public Art Biennial 2016, Current: LA Water
This July 16 through August 14 saw a host of innovative projects from national and international artists presented by the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs Public Art Division’s CURRENT: LA Water Public Art Biennial. It used contemporary art as a platform for the exchange of ideas around critical issues Los Angeles city faces and shares with other cities both here and abroad.
Closing out the Biennial, which included Rirkrit Triavanija, Kerry Tribe, Edgar Arceneaux, Candice Lin, Gala Porras-Kim, the Lucky Dragons among others, was Mel Chin. Mel is known for the broad range of approaches in his art, including works that require multi-disciplinary, collaborative teamwork and works that conjoin cross-cultural aesthetics with complex ideas. He developed Revival Field (1989-ongoing), a project at the Walker Art Center that pioneered the field of “green remediation,” the use of plants to remove toxic, heavy metals from the soil. His project for Current was The Tie that Bind: the Mirror of the Future. He has designed a public participatory event, in people accept a blueprint of his gardens and by doing so commit to planting his water saving drought resistant gardens somewhere in Los Angeles. This remains consistent with Mel’s life long exploration of ways that art can provoke greater social awareness and responsibility.
To find out more about Mel Chin’s project, go to: http://the-tie-that-binds.org/
And to explore the rich offerings of Current: LA Water Public Art Biennial 2016, go to: