Earth Projects: Piles and Pits

Morris's unrealized land art projects for the state of Missouri drew inspiration from "certain phenomena that can best be experienced outside: dust storms, earthquakes, plowed fields, sudden changes of temperature, Indian mounds, concrete dams, formal gardens, steam rising from city streets, natural disasters and aftermath, suburban hedges and gravel paths, burning industrial wastes, storage dumps of vast quantities of material...." Each was conceived on a vast scale, so that the whole of the work could only be experienced through a walking exploration of the landscape. Morris designed each project to relate to a specific terrain, rather than a definite geographic location.