katerie GLADDYS

TWO FEET DOWN
performance, video, fence, ten years of documents from EPA hearings and assessments and community correspondence about of Cabot Koppers Superfund site
2012

The proposed EPA remedies of scraping and disposing of two feet of topsoil although necessary are fairly violent and drastic measures. In Two Feet Down, we repeatedly circumambulated the fence that surrounds the 170 acres of the Cabot Koppers superfund site.  We then removed soil and planted a few cabbage plants (know to remediate for heavy metals) in the recess of 2’ X 3’ X 2’ hole to create a dialog about the possibilities as well as the futility of the process of phytoremediation to restore balance in the soil of this site. Perhaps the symbolic planting can even be seen as preparation for this “surgery”. We seek to transform the process of remediation into a personal and creative act and to locate and recognize the power of nature even in the most compromised of places. See video at https://vimeo.com/48569226