Revival Field Revisited
Thursday, October 19, 7:00 PM
University of St. Thomas O’Shaughnessy Education Center Auditorium
2115 Summit Avenue
Saint Paul, MN 55105
Free and open to the public

As part of our 30th Anniversary, Public Art Saint Paul initiates a new annual visiting artist series by bringing the inspiring Mel Chin back to Saint Paul.

Born in Houston in 1951, Chin is one of the most respected artists working today. In projects nationally and internationally, his conceptually based work defies easy categorization, inclusively embracing public art, social practice, environmental art, museum and gallery exhibitions, television, and video games.

One of his most influential projects—Revival Field—was created in Saint Paul in 1990. Working with the Walker Art Center and several City departments and state agencies, Chin collaborated with plant biologist Dr. Rufus Chaney to create an environmental art piece aimed at testing bioremediation at the Pig’s Eye Superfund site on the St. Paul’s East Side along the Mississippi River. A small plot planted and harvested over 3 years, Revival Field was an experiment as well as an art project, and its findings proved that certain plants could remove toxic heavy metals from polluted soil.

Now 27 years later, Chin returns to visit the site of Revival Field and to share its story and impact. Join us for this free public lecture with an artist who continues to intrigue audiences and critics, and whose work gave momentum to the environmental art movement.