Canned Greens and Garden Sculpture

Canned Spinach is a temporary installation that alludes to Oakland's history as a center of vegetable and fruit canning, the largest of which was the Del Monte canning company established in 1916. The installation reveals the current and historical connection of Oakland's cultural landscape to the California agrarian landscape.

Canned Spinach welcomes visitors at OMCA's new Oak Street entry.  A mono-crop of spinach, grown in a field of galvanized "cans," debuted at OMCA's opening May 1 as sprouted ground; as the crop of spinach grew it was harvested and has now been rotated with beets, small carrots, lettuce varieties, dill, and chard.

Staff and visitors are encouraged to help with the harvest as well as the watering.  Canned Spinach connects art with natural and cultural history, and with the cultural landscape of Oakland.

GARDEN SCULPTURE

Garden Sculpture invokes cultural artifacts from two canonized gardens in history: the Alhambra Gardens in Spain and the Katsura Imperial Palace Gardens in Japan.  The Alhambra fountain and the Katsura lantern are appropriated as serialized hanging objects within the building and landscape environments of the Museum.   

The installation is placed in outdoor vitrines as a space for art that is an experiential zone viewed from within as well as from without. The visitor has the opportunity to participate as both subject and observer in this garden sculpture landscape.