Currently on display at the Bronx River Art Center in New York City is the exhibition "Black Gold" which includes an installation by Tattfoo Tan, a self-described "community based intervention artist." "Black Gold" is part of his S.O.S. project (Sustainable. Organics. Stewardship.), a year-long horticulture and cultivation project, in which he "engages deeply in the social and cultural curve of 'green' ethics and aesthetics."

The installation is composed of three parts: the first, mobile gardens built out of discarded shopping carts; the second, "Black Gold," jarred compost priced at the value of gold; and the third, artifacts that document his quest for the "certification of knowledge" in which he becomes a "certified master composter."

Mobile Gardens

"Mobile Gardens," Tattfoo Tan. Photo: EMD/Raphael Brion

Tattfoo Tan's "Mobile Gardens" are built out of discarded shopping carts using found materials (garbage cans, laundry detergent bottles, buckets, etc) to grow produce including herbs and tomatoes. Originally conceptualized to be locked to a sign post for a week-long period "to engage the public," in this installation the mobile gardens are stored indoors at the gallery and taken outside for an hour once a day.

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