You Make the Call!
The Chicago Sun Times asks "Art or Weeds?" regarding the partial removal of Chapman Kelley's wildflower garden in Chicago's Grant Park.
Kelley has filed suit in federal court against the Chicago Park District, claiming his work was eligible for certain protections under the Visual Artists Rights Act, enacted in 1990.
Fundamental to this legal gambit is the assertion that the work by Kelley -- who is a painter -- is a piece of sculpture.
The outcome of this case could be quite important -- not as an issue of whether a landscape is art or weeds as the Sun Times implies, but as an issue of sculpture or design. The potential that works of design -- and above all designed landscape, often appreciated for its defiance of "objecthood" -- could be codified as sculpture, according to statute, could have tremendous implications for designers, artists, and the public. Stay tuned.