Cornhenge

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Concrete Corn
Concrete Corn

Cornhenge is the nickname of a publicly funded art installation in the city of Dublin, Ohio. The installation consists of 109 concrete ears of corn positioned in rows and standing upright in a grassy field. Sculpted by Malcolm Cochran, the field of corn was commissioned by the Dublin Arts Council and completed in 1994.

The display site, named the Sam and Eulalia Frantz Park, was originally farmed by Sam Frantz, an inventor of several hybrid corn species, and was donated to the city in the late twentieth century. The art installation is partly a tribute to Sam Frantz and is also intended to remind visitors of Dublin's agricultural heritage. Along the west side of the park, near several Osage-orange trees are signs that describe the project and explain hybridization.

Three different molds were used to cast the concrete ears of corn, which stand about 8 feet (2 m) tall. The breed of corn represented is known as Corn Belt Dent Corn, a double-cross hybrid variety.

Soon after completion, the art installation became a target for criticism, joking and creative pranks(such as painting some porition actual colors). Its odd setting in the shadow of business parks, and having been funded by tax money, the display was given the nickname Cornhenge by the public.