DAVID KUTZ
THE MACHINE IN THE GARDEN
The title of this project, The Machine in the Garden, is a nod to the 1964 book by Leo Marx with the same title. This seminal text reviews how 19th century American literature considered American pastoral idealism as it is interrupted by industrialization. Marx examines writings by Thoreau, Melville, Hawthorne, Twain, and many others, and traces how the sudden appearance of a steam locomotive or a Mississippi River paddle boat crashed into the American pastoral utopian dream, and how those interruptions shifted our feelings about a nation where industrial utopianism became dominant.
Today in the Anthropocene, it is well known that one “defense” for our planet is urban density. Stacked housing, the efficiencies of mass transit, and being able to walk or bike for necessities all reduce the per capita energy use and hence reduce our carbon footprint. The locavore movement came with this push towards urbanization, and the urban farm followed more recently. The Brooklyn Grange operates the largest rooftop soil farm in the United States and its complex of rooftop farms in New York City includes three acres on a rooftop in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. Here, the process outlined in The Machine in the Garden is reversed. The machine is at home on the rooftop of an early 20th century industrial building and the farm with its greens is the intruder.
I was raised in Western New York. I’ve been on a lot of farms. Beyond the many industrial protrusions on the Brooklyn Grange’s rooftop and the nearby industrial grade smokestacks seen in the pictures, I was struck by the roar of these machines and the thunder from the highway below. This is not the place to listen in a pastoral utopia of chirping birds, but a place barraged by the sounds of a contemporary city. The soundscape included with these pictures is meant to bring viewers a little closer to that experience.
The Machine in the Garden #1 (2020)
Archival pigment print
11” x 31”; frame size: 13” x 34”
Framed print $750
The Machine in the Garden #2 (2020)
Archival pigment print
14” x 14”; frame size: 17¾” x 24¾”
Framed print $550
The Machine in the Garden #3 (2020)
Archival pigment print
14” x 14”; frame size: 17¾” x 24¾”
Framed print $550
ABOUT THE ARTIST
After receiving a BFA from Rochester Institute of Technology, David Kutz moved to New York City and became the eleventh employee at the newly-founded International Center of Photography. During his 2 years at ICP he hung exhibitions, built darkrooms, participated in master class workshops, and taught photography. Today, he still has a relationship with ICP.
David worked as an independent photojournalist from 1976 to 1980, with assignments from the New York Times, Life, Look, and Time magazines. For the next three decades he worked in film and television as a director, producer, and media executive. In addition to commercial and industrial assignments, he created the award-winning documentary, The African Burial Ground: An American Discovery and was a senior executive directing the launch of VOOM-HD, a package of 15 high definition cable channels.
In 2013, he returned to photography as an art form, and earned an MFA from the Vermont College of Fine Arts in 2016. He is now actively engaged in making work and continuing his research into geography, urban planning, travel and globalization. David is the president and chair of the board of directors of Arts Gowanus, his local arts organization, an active member of Soho Photo Gallery, a cooperative gallery in New York City, and a member of the International Panorama Council and Surveillance Studies Network.
