MARY MATTINGLY

American, b. 1978

Along the Lines of Displacement: A Tropical Food Forest, 2018

Paurotis palm (Acoelorrhaphe wrightii), ponytail palm (Beaucarnea recurvata), and coconut palm (Cocos nucifera) from agricultural zones 8 and 9 transplanted to zones 5
60 x 50 x 22 ft. (18.3 m x 15.2 m x 670.6 cm)
Courtesy the artist and Robert Mann Gallery

To create Along the Lines of Displacement: A Tropical Food Forest, tropical fruit trees—coconut palms, a ponytail palm, and others—were brought from Florida to Storm King Art Center and installed as if they were a living sculpture on Storm King’s proposal for a future that is predicted by the turn of the next century, where a temperature rise of 4 degrees Celsius (7.2 degrees Fahrenheit) is projected to be the baseline in many places around the world. This project uses the language of architectural follies, presenting something unfamiliar and unexpected in a particular environment—in this case even creating the possibility that people might be able to go harvest a palm tree in upstate New York. As Mary Mattingly has explained, the work allows visitors to “think about what potentials the future of Upstate New York might have in a way that I think will be both unnerving and sad, but also potentially promising of different ways of living and being.”