Kurgans are man-made hills, created as early as two thousand years ago as funerary or ritualistic markers in landscape. Originally these mounds have been used only to contain grave chambers – the entries to kurgans are sealed to discourage grave robbers – and hold wakes on mound tops. But over time kurgans have also been planted, inhabited, used as bases for settlements. These artifices dotted the plains of Eastern Europe, and over the centuries have become a natural part of their surroundings – sometimes a mound amidst a steppe, sometimes – a hill in a middle of city. Thus a kurgan, a mysterious yet simple structure, is also artificial nature.
We are proposing to create a kurgan at the Gardens – a container of the unknown, and a study of the creation of “natural” artifice. Since time is short we will opt for using our contemporary technology and capitalize on our current nature-to-artifice relationship rather than pile up dirt and let time take its course. The structure of the mound will be made of plywood ribs and sheathing. At the base of the kurgan local grasses will grow; but with each half a meter of elevation a different grade of artificial grass will cover the mound – starting from premium “natural-looking” turf to red Astro-turf all the way at the top.
As it so happens that the makers of Astro-turf artificial grasses are now owned by the Monsanto Corporation, the very company primarily responsible for heated debates surrounding the relationship of natural and the artificial. In discussing how “natural” our Nature really is today, when plants and crops are genetically engineered to various degrees, the Grand-Metis Kurgan will stand as an Artificial (Funerary?) Monument to the current state of Nature.

© Austin + Mergold

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