Notes about the Sustainability of the Art Installation for The Monegros Environment

I believe that it is important to point out that Homenaje a Los Monegros is designed not to negatively impact The Monegros under a sustainability point of view. I love The Monegros and its beautiful biodiversity, and I would never place toxic materials in its environment.

The red gravel I decided to use for the land art installation is totally organic – just gravel stones colored with natural, non-toxic biodegradable pigments and resins that contains no heavy metals or solvents, and that will fade off in a few years, due to the tear and wear effect from visitors walking on it, combined with the extreme weather conditions of the Monegros desert, intense sun, low night and winter temperatures, rain and dust storms.

As a matter of fact, the gravel will improve the accessibility to the Orwell trenches. During winter and rain seasons, due to the intense rains, the walkable path of the trenches in the Sierra of Alcubierre becomes muddy, in some points even swampy, as you can see from the image in the installation mock-up here below. The introduction of the gravel for the trenches’ pathways is actually a very functional input, besides of its artistic meaning and value. Even after its red color will fade off, the Orwell trenches will be more accessible, even during the rain season.

For those who are curious about the amount of gravel needed to cover the approx 850-900 meters of walkable path, it’s going to be a lot! We have ordered 10 “bags” of 1 Ton each, for a total of 10 Tons of red gravel! Spreading it all over the Orwell Trenches is going to be quite a task, for which I’ve planned at least one week of work up in the Sierra of Alcubierre, working with the help of a couple of volunteers and also getting some support from the Maintenance Team of the City of Alcubierre, mostly in terms of working tools. The Ayuntamiento of Alcubierre, with the support of DPH – Diputación Provincial de Huesca are also to be credited, besides of the overall patronage and support to the project, also for providing the materials needed for the art installation.

One last note about the source of the gravel. In order to minimize the impact on the environment also in terms of transportation’s carbon footprint, the gravel is almost supplied at km zero, being produced in Huesca, just a few kilometers away. It cannot get more sustainable than this.