Miss Mary's environmental artwork has avoided demolition for now. A U.S. District Court judge in Des Moines on Friday granted her request for a temporary restraining order preventing the dismantling of the Des Moines Arts Center, the museum that commissioned the land art installation. The museum claims it has become a safety hazard and resources are not available to repair it.
The arts center said in a statement that the decision amounted to a “court-ordered deadlock.”
Judge Stephen H. Locher ruled that destroying the painting “Greenwood Pond: Double Site” (1989-1996) was a violation of the artist’s contract with the art center, but said Miss could not force the museum to restore it. She puts it back to its original state. He wrote, “So the end result is an unsatisfactory status quo: no one likes it, but the work will remain the same (for now) even though the courts cannot order anyone to change it.”
The lawsuit is the latest in a fight over the fate of Greenwood Pond that has highlighted the difficulty of preserving large-scale public art works, especially for small institutions. Located on city-owned parkland next to the museum, the installation consists of sloping walkways, wooden seating areas, cabins and towers that encourage visitors to engage with the landscape. Over the years, the quality of the wood has deteriorated significantly, and the art center estimates it will cost between $2 million and $2.6 million to restore it. (There was a Miss Contest, but no other figures were provided.)
“I don’t know why the museum doesn’t come to me at this point and try to resolve this issue instead of spending more legal fees,” Mr. Meese said in an interview Tuesday.
Visiting “Greenwood Pond: Double Site” while in Des Moines for a deposition said she gained a new appreciation for the work. “At this point, I can’t imagine that this will all go south,” she said.
Arts center spokeswoman Amy Day said the museum will block off part of the site while it considers its next steps and that “the city of Des Moines will engage to address public safety concerns.” In his ruling, the judge noted that the city, which is not a party to the lawsuit, has the authority to consider the work a safety hazard and force its demolition.
If the city does not intervene, the parties cannot reach an agreement, and the case goes to trial, the outcome may vary depending on whether the land art qualifies as a sculpture. Miss argued that the demolition plans would violate the Visual Artists' Rights Act of 1990, which gives artists the power to protect prominent works from destruction. But she warned the judge that “Greenwood Pond” was not a “painting, drawing, print, or sculpture” and therefore did not qualify for protection under VARA.
The question of whether land art is sculpture could end up pitting some art historians against museum lawyers. Charles Birnbaum, president and CEO of the Culture Landscape Foundation, a nonprofit organization that has advocated for the preservation of Mies's work, said: “Sculpture.”