86. The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant

Response part three:

Here's what I suspect was the real problem with the choice of "Carthago delenda est." It seems to be a phrase that is purely utilitarian. It only exists to serve one purpose, and that purpose is not to be beautiful, but to convince the Roman senate to destroy Carthage. And although that's true, I would argue that the purpose of art is to evoke emotion. Any emotion.

Here's what I would like to present as art, and it's a somewhat strange story. The US has a lot of nuclear waste, and it's expected to stay radioactive and dangerous for the next 10,000 years at least. The Department of Energy decided it would be a good idea to design a method of marking for future generations that our nuclear waste disposal sites are dangerous and people should stay away from them. They commissioned a study on how best to scare future people away to be carried out by a diverse group of physicists, historians, linguists, and anthropologists. And the results are remarkable.

Among other suggestions for what to include at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant:

-A forbidding landscape of giant concrete thorns (pictured)
-Earthwork berms in the shape of lightning bolts radiating out from the waste location
-Granite message kiosks with a warning text written in the UN's official languages and Navajo (the local language). The text reads, in part, "This place is a message and part of a system of messages. Pay attention to it! Sending this message was important to us. We considered ourselves to be a powerful culture. This place is not a place of honor. No highly esteemed deed is commemorated here. Nothing valued is here."

Is it beautiful? Absolutely not. And it was designed to fulfil a very specific purpose. But I would unequivocally call it art.