AGNES DENES

WHEATFIELD—AN INSPIRATION. THE SEED IS IN THE GROUND

OPENS JUNE 2024

From June 15 through October 19, 2024 Tinworks is pleased to present a significant new work by artist Agnes Denes. Wheatfield—An Inspiration. The seed is in the ground can be found at Tinworks’ field, 719 N Ida and Cottonwood Ave in Bozeman’s northeast neighborhood.

A groundbreaking, internationally recognized figure, and one lauded as one of the first ecological artists, Denes engages science, philosophy, math, linguistics, technology, engineering, urban planning, music, and poetry in visionary artworks that explore environmental issues and humanity’s impact on the planet. One of her most celebrated works, Wheatfield—A Confrontation, was planted in New York City in 1982. In the forty years since that installation, this is the first time Denes has accepted an invitation to reposition the work in another American context.

Reimagining Wheatfield in Bozeman is particularly compelling because of the significant role of wheat in the history and economy of Montana, the increasing loss of farmland in the Gallatin Valley, and the opportunity to devote the field at Tinworks to public art installations. The scope of Wheatfield—An Inspiration demonstrates Tinwork’s commitment to ambitious projects that provide the space and support for artists and the public to directly engage in contemporary issues and the complex challenges of our time. As Denes explains, “The Wheatfield is hope. There is renewal in the seed. We are planting hope.” 

Link to full press release >>

The seed is in the ground

A crop of Bobcat winter wheat was planted in October and is now growing in the Tinworks field on the corner of N Ida and Cottonwood as one component of Denes’ project.

How you can be a part of Agnes Denes’ Wheatfield—An Inspiration

Denes invites the Bozeman community to participate in the artwork this spring by planting wheat in any fallow piece of land available to them, creating a city-wide wheatfield in solidarity with Wheatfield—An Inspiration.

Packets of spring wheat seeds are now available for the public. Collect your free packet at one of three locations through June 1:

• Tinworks Art on Saturdays from 11am-2pm

• Bozeman’s acclaimed bakery Wild Crumb during their open hours Tuesday through Sunday

• Bozeman Public Library’s Seed Library (upstairs) during their daily open hours

It is recommended that you plant your wheat by June 1 for best results. Instructions for planting can be found here.

In the fall, Tinworks will harvest and process the wheat into flour using small mills available for community use on site. Wild Crumb will partner with Tinworks to bake the flour into bread for distribution throughout the community.

The project further expands through the circulation of Questionnaire, a work in which Denes poses questions about the most pressing issues facing humanity, like artificial intelligence and global warming, inviting answers and solutions from the community to be submitted online. All of the answers to Questionnaire will be saved to the cloud and be accessible online as a perpetual artwork to communicate with the future.

We invite you to participate in this multifaceted installation by filling out Questionnaire.

All of the answers to Questionnaire will be saved to the cloud and be accessible online as a perpetual artwork for future generations.

Special thanks to Kenny Van Dyke; Mac Burgess, Associate Professor, Department of Plant Sciences and Plant Pathology, MSU; Kirsten Ostberg, Assistant Professor of Landscape Design, Department of Plant Sciences and Plant Pathology, MSU; Leslie Tonkonow; and Chris Leonard, Bridger Ops, for their assistance with Wheatfield—An Inspiration. The seed is in the ground.

ABOUT AGNES DENES

Agnes Denes was born in Hungary in 1931. Since the 1960s, she has participated in more than 700 exhibitions at museums, galleries, and art spaces worldwide. Recent solo exhibitions and presentations include “Agnes Denes: Early Work,” If the Berlin Wind Blows My Flag. Art and Internationalism Before the Fall of the Wall, Galerie im Körnerpark, Berlin, Germany (2023); Agnes Denes: Philosophy in the Landscape, acb Gallery, Budapest (2023); Agnes Denes: The Living Pyramid, Sakıp Sabancı Museum, Sabancı University, Emirgan, Istanbul (2022); Agnes Denes: Another Confrontation, CIRCA, London, New York, Berlin (2022); Agnes Denes: Photos of the Mind, 1969–2002, Leslie Tonkonow Artworks + Projects, ADAA Member Viewing Rooms (2020); and Agnes Denes: Absolutes and Intermediates, The Shed, New York (2109). Recent group exhibitions with her work include Artists Born Elsewhere: Selections from the Museum’s Permanent Collection, University Museum of Contemporary Art, UMASS, Amherst (2023); The Irreplaceable Human: The Conditions of Creativity in the Age of AI, Louisiana Museum of Art Humlebæk, Denmark (2023); Extreme Tension: Art between Politics and Society 1945-2000, Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin (2023); Our Ecology: Toward a Planetary Living, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo (2023); Can’t See, Sequences Biennial XI, Icelandic Art Center, Reykjavik (2023); RE/SISTERS, Barbican Art Gallery, London (2023); Groundswell: Women of Land Art, Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas (2023); Nature Doesn’t Know About Us, Sculpture Milwaukee (2023); Dear Earth: Art in a Time of Crisis, The Hayward Gallery, London (2023); Coded: Art Enters the Computer Age, Los Angeles County Museum of Art (2023); Adaptation: A Reconnected Earth, MCAD, Manila (2023); Pour, Tear, Carve, The Philips Collection, Washington, D.C. (2023); Territories of Waste: On the Return of the Repressed, Museum Tinguely, Basel (2022); Back to Earth, Serpentine North Gallery, London (2022); and The Milk of Dreams, the 59th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia (2022). Denes has completed many public and private art commissions in the Americas, Europe, Australia and the Middle East, is the author of six books, and has participated in numerous publications. Among several international awards and honors including four National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships and the Rome Prize from the American Academy in Rome, she holds honorary doctorates from Ripon College, Ripon, Wisconsin and Bucknell University, Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, and fellowships from the Studio for Creative Inquiry at Carnegie Mellon University and the Center for Advanced Visual Studies at M.I.T.