John K Grande on Firman Djamil' Sculpture 2008

Firman Djamil’s Zero Chimney is a powerful sculptural integration at Guandu. Rising up vertically from the ground, this chimney recall the factory smokestacks from the early days of industrialization, but Firman’s is a bio-sensitive chimney that includes corn seeds at its base, a food source that will become a growing part of the art. As part of his artistic process Firman performed a performance ritual that involved public participation an planting of the corn seeds at the opening of the 3rd annual Guandu International Outdoor Sculpture Festival.

Zero Chimney likewise addresses the issue of alternative energy sources, notably the corn-based fuel known as Ethanol. Produced from maize or corn using an agrifuel process, the production of Ethanol is being contested for various reasons, notably that food sources for the world’s poor and disenfranchised are being converted into fuel, but also because water used to cultivate maize/corn for ethanol on huge farms, is not being directed towards our sustainable projects and for basic resource use. The production of one gallon or 3.7 liters of ethanol requires 6.345 liters of fresh water during the maize/corn growth and fermentation process, and there is also irrigation waste, and corresponding environmental damage.

A beautifully aesthetic bamboo construction at Guandu Nature Park, Zero Chimney is nature stack, one that no longer yields gas or carbon emissions in the form of Co2, but fresh air instead. An art with heard that will yield corn, to then be eaten by humans and songbirds, in indeed interactive in a most wholesome, universal and environmental way.

John K Grande, 2008