A nearly year-long legal battle between the Des Moines Art Center and a New York-based artist has ended. The center will pay artist Mary Miss $900,000 to settle the suit and move ahead with the destruction of her installation, “Greenwood Pond: Double Site.”
“The settlement will end a breach of contract lawsuit filed by Miss on April 4, 2024, and allow the Des Moines Art Center to proceed with previously stated plans to remove the artwork in its entirety,” the art center said in a statement.
The wooden artwork, installed in Greenwood Park in 1996, was commissioned as part of the art center’s permanent collection. The environmental structure is made up of a series of walkways, shelters and viewing sites for visitors to use to observe nature, but has deteriorated over time due to Iowa’s harsh weather. The center blocked off parts of it it deemed unsafe.
It said immediate repairs would cost $2.6 million, plus millions more to continually renovate it. Plans were drawn to remove the work in the spring of 2024.
“…We do not and will not ever have the money to remake it,” Des Moines Art Center Director Kelly Baum told Miss in an email on Dec. 1, 2023.
The decision outraged artists, and, citing a breach of contract, Miss filed a lawsuit last spring to stop the demolition. The internationally recognized artist has received dozens of letters of support.
“I am so appreciative of the broad support that has brought us to this final settlement: to the artists, designers, patrons and others who have followed the issues surrounding the future of Greenwood Pond: Double Site, I give my heartfelt thanks,” Miss said in a statement following the settlement. “I hope the resurrection and reconsideration of this project will lead to further reflections on the relationships between artists, environmental issues, communities and our public cultural institutions. I trust this experience can help to develop stronger bonds moving forward.”
In response to the settlement, the Cultural Landscape Foundation, a Washington-based education and advocacy organization, announced the creation of the Public Art Advocacy Fund to “provide a national platform for threatened and at-risk works.” Miss will be its first donor, using some of the money from the settlement.
“What happened to ‘Greenwood Pond: Double Site’ could have and should have been prevented, but the institution that commissioned the environmental sculpture for its permanent collection appears to have failed as a proper custodian and steward of this widely acclaimed and influential artwork, which is a core function and responsibility,” TCLF President and CEO Charles A. Birnbaum said in a statement.
It’s unclear when the installation will be fully removed.
