Mel Chin with
  Dr. Rufus Chaney
greenmuseum.org  :  The Achemical Garden  :  Artist Garden    
   
Revival Field Pigs Eye Landfill, Saint Paul, Minnesota, (1990-93)

An experiment using plants to absorb toxic metals from the soil. Chin worked with Dr. Rufus Chaney, a USDA senior research scientist to determine which hyperaccumulators, plants that have evolved the capacity to selectively absorb and contain large amounts of metal or minerals in their vascular structure. Dr. Chaney selected three cadmium and zinc hyperaccumulators to match the local ecotype: Silene cucubalus, hybrid zea mays and Thlaspi caerulescens for this site that was affiliated with the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis. Chin has compared the plants absorption of toxic metals to the art of carving. Recently a new Revival Field was planted on the 10th Anniversary of this piece in Stuttgart, Germany.