Mapping a better world: more than 30 years ago, Helen and Newton Harrison decided to devote themselves to environmentally beneficial art. Their latest project, "Peninsula Europe," envisions nothing less than the greening of most of an entire continent - Critical Essay

Art in America, Oct, 2003 by Eleanor Heartney

Certainly in the context of present-day America, such ideas seem hopelessly visionary, which may explain why most of the Harrisons' projects have originated in Europe (They are, however, at work on a small project in Santa Fe.) But where there is a receptive government or populace, the pair can point to some real-world accomplishments. The "Green Heart" project, for instance, was immediately embraced by Holland's Green Party, and has gone through various ups and downs with a succession of governments. Today, elements of this proposal, among them the preservation of the country's center, the physical separation of cities and the redirection of new development, have become part of the government's plan for this area.

The Sara project was interrupted by war in the Balkans, but the ideas outlined by the Harrisons are being implemented on the Drava River, a tributary of the Danube that flows through Slovenia and Croatia. Meanwhile, "Peninsula Europe," which is only a year old, has already led a number of smaller local projects throughout the European Union.

Thus, if the Harrisons are utopian, they have one foot in the real world. Change is possible, they argue, and they offer numerous practical suggestions. At a time when so many prognostications about the future condition of the planet seem unrelievedly gloomy, Newton and Helen Mayer Harrison remind us that we are still masters of our fate.

"Peninsula Europe" was on view at Ronald Feldman Fine Arts, New York [Apr. 12-May 10]. The project will be the subject of forthcoming exhibitions in Toulouse, Athens and Munich. Other projects by the Harrisons will be presented at the Santa Fe Art Institute [2004] St.-Pieters Abbey, Ghent, Belgium [2005], and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Antwerp, Belgium [2005]. They are also included in a group exhibition opening Oct. 4 at the Hudson River Museum, Yonkers.

Author: Eleanor Heartney is the author of Postmodernism, published by the Tate Gallery and Cambridge University Press (2000).