Hay tower

The dimensions of the “Haymarket Tower” - 13 meters in diameter and 10 meters in height, weight about 25 tons.

If in the previous land art project “Snowmen” Polissky impressed the viewer with a large number of them, then in this project he wanted to do something “significant”, “archaic”:

... It was possible to make such a huge volume only with this spiral shape. When I talked to the craftsmen of stacking, they argued: you can raise the stack by four, maximum five meters, and then with a stacker. I said we will do ten meters. And it turned out that if we gradually climb the ramp of this helical shape, then we can sweep away a very high stack. Then, however, the tower settled to seven meters, of course, for natural reasons: shrinkage. ^[one]

All summer of 2000, Polissky cut grass with a resident of the village of Nikola-Lenivets Ivan Vasilyevich Sokolov (Uncle Vanya the Great). By the end of the summer it started to rain, and the hay began to rot. Polissky was supported by Uncle Vanya; the residents of the neighboring villages of Zizzy and Koltsovo were pulled up and by common efforts they mowed about a ton of hay. “I thought,” said Polissky later, “five more such stacks, and the tower can already be built. It turned out to be complete nonsense. It was necessary to bribe on the side - hay was trampled and kneaded, it was not enough all the time. It was impossible to understand how much it should be. ” ^[one]

A group of about 30 people worked on the construction of the “Haymarket Tower”, about 30 people who helped to lay hay for free twice a week. ^[one]

The tower was burned by its creator:

Speaking of functions, then <...> the “hay” tower was a “food” - ultimately, all this had to go to feed the cattle. The fact that it had to be burned, was conceived wrong (but just the hay started to rot). She had to be chewed up by cows, then - to give people milk, and then ... In short, it is clear that the material used should have made such a cycle from nature to nature. ^[one]

Sokolov I.V., Gvozdev V.K., Krasnov A.S., Ivanov N.I., Belyaev V.A., Novikov Yu.M., Belyaev A.A., Kondrashov A.M., Ustinenkov V. I., Akimkina N. V., Ustinenkov I. V., Akimkin A. V., Golubtsov E., Batkaev G. V., Bezuglov E. A., Suyutov S. V., Mozgunov D. V., Il'ichev V. I., Zelensky A. M., Fokin A. N., Ptichkina A. A., Krotschyk F. B., Ptichkina K. V., Krasnov S. A., Ptichkin A., Noskov S. I. ., Kondrashov P. M., Bukovsky S. V., Berezovskaya N. A., Gudkov A. N., Legostaeva 0. V., Zuykov V. N., Ryzhova N. V., Novikov V. A., Kotova O. Yu., Matkovsky V. A., Kotova D. Yu., Matkovskaya S. H., Guseynova Ya. M., Matkovskaya Yu. V., Barteneva 0., Matkovsky E. B., Barteneva K., Kondrashova E. P., Belyaeva E. A., Kondrashova MP, Belyaeva A. A., Kozlov A., Vasina I. N., Kharitonov V. I. , Bukovsky S. S., Kharitonova 3. P., Ustinenkov V. V., Bukovsky V. V., Filimonova I. I., Vasin N. V., Galdin A. A., Volkova V., Zuykov A. N., Strezhkov A., Godovikov M. A., Sorokin A., Godovikov A. A., Belyaev A., Godovikova E. A., Zheltov Yu. N., Godovikov A. A., Zheltov V. N. , Pugachev P. F., Parygina M., Rogatkin A., Altynov V. P., Parygin V., Zuykova N. I., Parygin A., Galdina N. P., Serova N. I., Sokolova A. R., Serov S. V., Suetova BC, Serov A. S., Zhvynchikov a B., Serova E.S., Svistkov E., Babin N.N., Bulanenkov M.V., Babina V., Ustinenkova EB, Bakhaev I., Novikova A.Yu., Goryachev A.A., Fominova D.S., Sergeeva A.V., Simonova K.A., Galdina S.V., Klyuchnikov V.S., Zelenskaya S.M., Pugacheva A.P., Zelensky M.S., Pugacheva E. P. ^[2]

• "Hay Tower" on the official website of Nikolai Polissky
• "Hay Tower" in "Art Pantry"