New York artist sues Des Moines for plan to remove her work

DES MOINES, Iowa (CN) — New York City artist Mary Miss filed suit in Iowa federal court Thursday against the Des Moines Art Center in hopes of heading off the center’s plans to demolish and remove an outdoor art installation created by Miss that has been in place for nearly 30 years.

Miss completed Greenwood Pond: Double Site in 1996 on the edge of a city park pond behind the Des Moines Art Center. The installation includes wooden and concrete walkways that take visitors around the edge of the pond, a pavilion and a trough that allows visitors to descend to an eye-level view of the water.

Iowa’s harsh climate has taken its toll on the project, however, and part of the site has been closed to the public for months as parts of the site pose a danger to the public. A contractor estimated it would cost more than $2.6 million to restore the work, leading to the art center to conclude that total removal would be the best, though regrettable, option.

News of plans to remove the installation stirred a hornet’s nest in Des Moines and its arts community and nationally.

In her suit filed in federal court in Des Moines, Miss claims the art center’s planned removal of the installation — which is set to begin early next week — would violate a contract between her and the art center. Miss seeks a temporary injunction preventing the removal.

In her suit filed Thursday, Miss claims that by removing the installation the Art Center would violate the 20-year-old contract between her and the center. The contract between them says that the center will not damage or modify the work without prior written approval and notify and consult with the artist on any alteration that would change the “intended character and appearance of the work.”

Miss says in her complaint that the art center did not notify nor consult with her of the proposed removal, in violation of the agreement. Miss also accuses the art center of not properly maintaining the installation throughout the years.

In an email Miss sent to Art Center Director Kelly Baum last December, included as an exhibit with the suit, Miss lamented the destruction of a work by a woman artist.

“Women’s lives and stories have endlessly been allowed to vanish so easily. This situation with the art center project makes me very uncomfortable to say the least,” she wrote. “It has taken a very long time for recognition of the accomplishments of women to surface. It would be so unfortunate to take a step backwards at this point in time.”

After the Cultural Landscape Foundation published an article on the planned removal, it has received letters from 45 people, including artists, architects and educators, in support of preserving the installation.

“What a terrible precedent for a museum to set by destroying an artist’s work — no less by an artist who was specifically commissioned by the museum,” former National Endowment for the Arts staff member Michael Faubion wrote in a letter to the art center. “This travesty has certainly placed the Des Moines Art Center on the map — but for the wrong reasons.  The national outcry from the arts community attests to the importance of the issue and should help reverse the museum’s decision.”

The art center declined to comment on the lawsuit Thursday but referred to its statement released Wednesday on its plans.

“The art center launched its collaboration with Miss in 1989, forging partnerships with the City of Des Moines, the Science Center of Iowa, and the Des Moines Founders Garden Club, among others, to bring Miss’s groundbreaking outdoor environment to fruition," it said. "Now 28-years old, and despite almost $1 million in repairs over the last many years, Greenwood Pond: Double Site has, regrettably, come to the end of its serviceable life.”

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