More than a cornfield, downtown art project takes an online form

Los Angeles artist Lauren Bon and her team of web developers set up NotaCornfield.com to explain the purpose behind what appears to be, on first observation, a misplaced cornfield in the heart of Los Angeles. Earlier this summer, 875,000 seeds of corn were planted in a field just north of downtown Los Angeles in an effort to utilize the derelict area and attract community interest. The website is an online expansion of the project, which was funded by the Annenberg Foundation.

The decision to set up a website to raise public awareness of the 32-acre urban art installation was made early on in the process, said Steve Rowell, the website’s designer and developer.

"We knew that the vast majority of people would not be able to visit the actual site of the cornfield, so this offers another version of the project that is more accessible, both to locals and people in other areas of the country," Rowell said.

The website also offers interactive features, including a live web cam with an audio feed, for people who cannot visit the cornfield itself.

"The website can’t duplicate the experience of being at the cornfield," Rowell said, "but it is certainly an alternative."

Weekly events are posted on the site so local residents can participate in the project through planting, campfire evenings and Halloween night celebrations. All events are free-of-charge and accessible to the handicapped. The website’s blog section then covers the events.

"At the beginning we offered an anonymous response option in the blog section, but there were instances of racial slogging so we decided to take that option off because we didn’t want it to get out of control," says Rowell.

The project will be completed this harvest, but the website will continue to run.

"There will be a ‘blue-light’ phase, when the empty field will be lit up by blue light. After that the website will keep up-to-date with the drying out process, keep up-to-date on the exhibition process and may continue running in to the summer of next year," says Rowell.