“Hudson Valley Tastemakers,” May 2003

“Hudson Valley Tastemakers,” June 2003

“Hudson Valley Tastemakers,” October 2003

Plan of sculpture from the side and above

Chef Gray Kunz and his crew at Dick’s Castle, 2002

“Watershed Tastemakers,” Glynwood Center, 2004

Temporary indoor installation, 197 Main Street, Beacon, NY

Hudson Valley Tastemakers

Since May 2003
Campus Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York

– “Hudson Valley Tastemakers,” 2003, steel, painted; six different types of soil from the Hudson Valley, seasonal plantings; 59 x 1181 x 47 inches

– “Watershed Tastemakers,” three dinners at different locations: Chef Gray Kunz and his crew at Dick’s Castle, 2002; Chef Mary Cleaver at Bear Mountain Inn, 2003; Chef Peter Hoffman at Glynwood Center, 2004

“Watershed” is the name of a project initiated by Diane Shamash (Minetta Brook) in the Hudson Valley near New York. There, since May 2002, ten international artists have created conceptual works of art exploring the natural and cultural geography of the Hudson River. The year 2003 saw several important cultural institutions putting down roots here: Frank Gehry built a music theater for Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, and the Dia Center for the Arts moved into an old factory with 300,000 square meters of space in Beacon. This development was to have far-reaching consequences for the unstable economic situation of this area, which, since the demise of the brick-making and textiles industries, has been primarily dependent on tourism.

“Hudson Valley Tastemakers” is an earth sculpture erected by Christian Philipp Müller on the campus of Bard College. A thirty-meter long steel tub projects out of the earth like a wedge pointing towards the Catskill Mountains in the far distance. The tub has been partitioned into six separate plots, each sown with plants in the same relative proportion as those found on county farms of Putnam, Greene, Ulster, Orange, Dutchess, and Columbia in New York State. The seasonal variations in what the plots contain reflect a dialogue with local farmers on the potential of the soil and the microclimate of the valley. In search of a new, or perhaps a long forgotten taste of the Hudson Valley, Müller collected regional recipes, talked to farmers and innovative cooks as well.

In conjunction with his “Hudson Valley Tastemakers,” Müller also initiated three banquets: In 2002, with Gray Kunz at Dick’s Castle, in 2003, with Mary Cleaver at the Bear Mountain Lodge, and in 2004, with Peter Hoffman at the Glynwood Center. There are now plans for a cookbook featuring the recipes and the biographies of the Hudson Valley farmers and New York’s top chefs, together with views of the sculpture in each season.


Essay by Thomas Trummer available here.