Holland 1969

The photographs depict three stages of a performance by the artist that took place in the Netherlands, and in which he dug a trench and lined its edges with bales of straw. The photographs were arranged vertically to create a graphic pattern; the work is the only documentation of a performance from the Furrows series, which began in 1969 and took place in a natural, anthropogenic landscape. It can be interpreted as a commentary on the precariousness of the land, which is dependent on fragile dams, and on the environmental impact of such interventions. It is now widely regarded as an early eco-critical artwork.