2024 Wormfarm Institute Farm/Art DTour Finalist
Palisades of Play: Recreational Defense Mechanisms against Industrial Land Consumption
The Driftless Area is renowned for its natural beauty and fascinating geology. The rolling hills and jagged bluffs that were spared from the advance of ancient glaciers now foster a bright future of eco-tourism. However, the very composition of the earth in this place, between Plain and Prairie du Sac, fated it to a complicated industrial history. Bookending the Farm/Art DTour route to the southwest and northeast are two public outdoor recreation spaces, each formerly the site of ammunition production. Following a precedent set by many post-industrial remediation efforts across the country, these sites of immense social and environmental harm have since been decommissioned and converted to a public amenity. In response to the formulaic tendencies of militarized industry to dispossess land, deplete and pollute it, and return it to the community for remediation, we have searched for a mechanism of resistance.
At its root, our proposal seeks to protect the land. It functions first as a palisade—a defensive measure against industrial encroachment. However, just as the palisade protects, it must also be protected. Thus, it is activated through play. Engagement ensures two things: the maintenance of the defensive object and the maintenance of a community mindset. The installation acts as a recreational experience that guides the visitor to acknowledge (spectate), prevent (engage) and purify (reflect). The objects function in both mechanical and metaphysical terms, with the formal composition responding to each.
