Sod in museum gallery

Sofia Galarza Liu <reina [at] ku__edu> writes

>Have any of you been involved with the installation of dirt or sod
>in a gallery?  What was involved as far as preparations and cleanup?
>What special precautions should be taken?
>
>A new installation is being discussed at my museum that involves
>putting down a floor of sod (on top of plastic) that is allowed to
>die and yellow over the course of a month to six weeks. ...

In the UK  it is possible to buy soil-less turf, just the grass
grown on a mat.

If it is only the grass that you need, it would solve some of the
installation and maintenance problems although surrounding humidity
may still be a problem to deal with in the gallery space. One UK
supplier is Coronet Turf. They have pictures on their website to
give you an idea. Maybe you could try growing your own?  I am not
certain  what it is you want to achieve but if you actually want the
grass to turn yellow I think you will need to exclude red and blue
light. An alternative might be to only feed the grass with deionised
water. Perhaps if this idea is of interest you could find someone
with a better knowledge than me of hydroponics?

Erica Arnold
Camberley GU17 9ET
England


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 22:60
                 Distributed: Saturday, April 18, 2009
                       Message Id: cdl-22-60-001
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