4Ground: Midwest Land Art Biennial

4Ground: Midwest Land Art Biennial is a far-reaching initiative spanning four states of the Upper Midwest and tribal lands. In partnership with Arts Midwest and International Sculpture Center, this site-specific art festival will raise awareness around important land and water issues while celebrating the land and art of the rural Midwest. Presented and planned in collaboration with tribal organizations, nonprofits, community groups, and both the public and private sector, 4Ground is designed to uplift rural and indigenous communities.

The more than 20 sites in 4Ground will be created in collaboration with the land. Rather than perpetuating the white settler colonialist tradition of land art that seeks to control and manipulate the earth, artists’ work will be grounded in a feminist, indigenous perspective, drawing on a tradition of land art that goes back millennia on the North American continent. 4Ground will take place within the contemporary political boundaries of North and South Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin, and will include programs with some of the foremost thinkers and makers of the land art movement.

All works serve to punctuate the landscape, encouraging people to look—and ultimately see—more. Visitors will experience the Driftless Region of southwestern Wisconsin, the bluffs of the St. Croix Valley dividing Wisconsin and Minnesota, and the sprawling prairies, fertile farmland, and glacial lakes dominating most of the Upper Midwest. Virtual components will guide viewers through the history of the land and people that have inhabited it for thousands of years, highlighting some of the oldest natural land formations in the United States created by receding glaciers. Print and online materials will educate visitors about historic land art created by Native peoples, including thousands of destroyed burial mounds, that no longer exist.