When the Park Is an Artwork: An Art History of Artist-Designed Landscapes

Starting in the 1970s, place-based models of public art, informed by land art, presented opportunities for artists to design parks, urban infrastructure, and land reclamation projects for American cities. This was “the artist as social designer,” in the words of curator Maurice Tuchman. As critic Lucy Lippard stated in 1980, “The park is probably the most effective public art form there is.” Artists likewise understood these projects as highly consequential. Isamu Noguchi regarded Detroit’s Hart Plaza as “a culmination of my social consciousness.” Yet these landscapes and public amenities have largely fallen outside the scope of art history.

In March 2025, Mary Miss’s Greenwood Pond: Double Site (1989-1996), a derelict pond reclaimed as a “demonstration wetland,” was demolished by the Des Moines Art Center after a legal battle. A federal judge opined that Miss’s environment was “not really a sculpture,” hence not protected under the Visual Artists Rights Act. Many other artist-designed landscapes have fallen into disrepair or are at risk of demolition. Fuller art historical understanding of these artworks is urgently needed to support their preservation and maintenance.

This panel seeks papers that situate this late twentieth century development within disciplines of art history, urban history, and environmental history, or address specific environments by Miss, Noguchi, Nancy Holt, Mierle Laderman Ukeles, Jody Pinto, Elyn Zimmerman, and others. How do urban environments designed by artists engage social and environmental justice? Why have these projects been marginalized within art history, and how might their consideration expand our discipline in important ways?