Libraries corn maze open at NCMA

Do you know where the corn on your plate comes from? Enter From Teosinte to Tomorrow, a quarter-acre corn maze, at the North Carolina Museum of Art (NCMA) Ann and Jim Goodnight Museum Park to find the answer. 

The maze is a conceptual walk back through agricultural history. At the center of the small stand of tropical field corn, you will find an interior room with a raised bed of teosinte, the wild grass thought to be an ancestor of modern corn. Through countless harvests, the skinny, hard kernels of teosinte grass were gradually cultivated and hybridized into today’s juicy and sweet corn on the cob. 

Part of the upcoming multi-site exhibition Art’s Work in the Age of Biotechnology: Shaping Our Genetic Futures, the 100’ x 100’ corn maze has its opening event on Sunday, Aug. 11 at 3:00 p.m. Locopops and the El Molcajete food truck will have refreshments for sale. The event is free and open to the public.

The corn maze is located near the new entrance to the museum parking along Blue Ridge Road, at the end of the parking lot farthest from the museum buildings. Please wear comfortable shoes.

The corn maze offers an introduction to the upcoming exhibition Art’s Work in the Age of Biotechnology: Shaping Our Genetic Futures (October 17, 2019–March 15, 2020), an art-science exhibition organized by the NC State University Libraries and the Genetic Engineering and Society Center, and shown at the Gregg Museum of Art & Design, in the physical and digital display spaces of the Libraries, and at the NCMA park.

After this opening event, the corn maze will remain open and accessible during museum park hours. The maze will be open through the end of October.

The corn maze, the exhibition, an integrated curriculum, and cross-campus dialogues will raise awareness and discussion about biotechnologies and their consequences in our society, through compelling work by contemporary artists. From Teosinte to Tomorrow is meant to prompt discussion about genetics in society and new considerations of your role in the genetic revolution. 

NC State University Libraries exhibit designer Molly Renda and architect William Dodge designed the maze after photographs and drawings made by artist Josef Albers during the years he and Anni Albers traveled extensively in Mexico (1930s–60s). The Albers’ deep connection to Mesoamerican art, together with their importance to the growth of art and design in North Carolina, made these reflective works an apt inspirational source.

Student Action with Farmworkers also has its annual End of Summer Celebration at the NCMA East Building on August 11 at 1:00 p.m. Their program will begin with a reception with drinks and dessert, and continue with a documentary and theater program before a visit to the corn maze at 3:00 p.m. Attendance to both the event and the museum are free, but pre-registration is required at tinyurl.com/SAF-EOS2019.

From Teosinte to Tomorrow is funded by the NC State University Libraries’ Goodnight Educational Founda­tion Endowment for Special Collections with additional support from the Genetic Engineering and Society Center, and in-kind donations from College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, the JC Raulston Arboretum, Hanbury Raleigh, and the North Carolina Museum of Art.