Don't let the
abandoned farmsteads and industrial ruins deceive you. From the
prairie it came, and to the prairie it will return.
But for the half-century in between, a veritable
suburban city unto itself arose on the 7,354-acre site near Baraboo,
right off Highway 12. It housed a huge chemical plant that produced
explosive propellants for firearms and rockets that helped America
wage World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War and the Cold
War.
Yet unless you worked at that plant, which
was farmland - once lived on by the Sauk and Ho-Chunk Indians -
before it opened in 1942, probably the closest look you will ever
get at the Badger Army Ammunition Plant (formerly called the Badger
Ordnance Works) is a new exhibit of 71 photographs mounted on the
fourth floor of the Wisconsin Society Historical Museum on the Capitol
Square.
The exhibit, which runs through Oct. 12
and which premiered in a larger form in March during Photofest 2000
at the Rivers Arts Center in Sauk City, is called "Inside the Fence."
The title is telling.
"Most people never get inside the fence,"
explains Madison photographer Zane Williams, who helped organize
the four-year project and enlisted eight unpaid photographers, two
historians and one curator. "People drive by on their way to the
Wisconsin Dells or Devils Lake and wonder what is this strange place.
I wanted to help them see inside the fence. Most people will not
get inside the fence until several years from now, when most of
the infrastructure will be gone."
"We wanted to produce a photographic record
that will help future generations understand its historical significance
and its beauty," adds Williams, who made some 20 trips and shot
about 500 negatives at 100 sites. "It sounds funny to say about
a munitions plant, but even in disrepair it is a setting of great
beauty. We wanted to help the average citizen understand what this
place was all about so that wiser decisions could be made about
its future - although there are so many players, I doubt the photos
alone will affect that decision."
Oral historian Michael Goc, who lives in
Adams County and has just published a book about the plant's history,
sees the meaning of the plant -- which produced a billion pounds
of propellants over its lifetime before closing in 1997 and which
is now reduced to abandoned buildings and partially dismantled hardware
-- in a more symbolic, even moralistic context.
"I look at it and see the image of a ghost
town," says Goc. "It's another example of the de-industrialization
of the United States, like abandoned Rust Belt factories."
Goc describes a dual legacy.
"In one way, that fate is really appropriate
because it was a factory of death. That's the dark side that you
see in the black-and-white photos," Goc explains. "On the other
hand, you also see life returning to the area. Especially in the
color photographs, you see grass and trees overtaking the buildings.
It's an organic process. Out of the decay, new life appears on the
prairie."
"I like looking at it that way, but there
are many ways to look at it," he adds. "It certainly wasn't evil
for us to be victorious in World War II or the Cold War. So the
exhibition illustrates the many meanings of the place. Life and
death, life and death -- that's what Badger is all about."
Yet visitors can determine their own point
of view. That's one of the things that Tom Garver, the former director
of the Madison Art Center and independent consultant who curated
the show, says he liked about the work he saw, as he went about
selecting the photos that would go into the final display.
"I think one of the vices of contemporary
photography is that you're often led to a particular point of view
and then your nose is rubbed in it just in case you don't get it,"
Garver says. "In this case, the photographers have photographed
this almost derelict space. The issues are all there, but you can
draw your own conclusions. That's one of the things I like about
it."
"You see the plant from varying points of
view -- from the air, long telephoto shots and close-ups," adds
Garver, who says that the landscapes and ruins will be a dramatic
and emotional experience for many older viewers. "It reveals something
few of us would have a chance to see otherwise."
Garver also says that despite its documentary
roots, the show maintains a high artistic standard. "The photographers
in the show were quite consistent and balanced in their capabilities
and insights," Garver says. "There was no star with a lot of hangers
on. Everyone was quite strong." Of course, interpreting the images
is made more difficult by the fact a lot of historical photographs
and other archival materials and artifacts from the heyday of the
plant have been left out, largely because of limited space.
"I thought it was important that the old
photographs were there," laments Garver, who installed the original,
much larger display. "It was good for viewers to see the plant in
use with people streaming in and out, and not simply as some technological
ruin."
"It seems ironic that the Historical Society
would take some of the historical components out of the exhibit,"
agrees historian Goc. "It's unfortunate. I don't see how you can
understand the meaning today without that historical context." Nonetheless,
Goc says "Inside the Fence" remains an important project.
"It's definitely successful," Goc says.
"It conveys the power of the Badger plant to make us think about
life and death. The impact of the plant is so large on Wisconsin
and on the prairie and even internationally, and this exhibit evokes
that. They've done some wonderful photography."
That wonderful photography faced obstacles,
however.
Access, which was limited by the military
and the Olin Chemical Corp., became even more restricted, even before
the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, Williams says. That, he adds,
left all the participants with the feeling of regret that they never
really got to finish the project.
The work also was physically dangerous.
Some of the wooden buildings were so soaked with the fumes of volatile
chemicals that the photographers were forbidden from smoking and
were warned that any kind of spark could set off a potentially fatal
explosion.
A book based on the show has been discussed,
though funding has not yet been procured, and more access would
be needed, says Williams, who would like to see the exhibition tour
Wisconsin. "There's no question, the Badger plant has played a major
role in the history of the entire state," Williams says.
It also played a major and unforgettable
role in the lives of the people who participated in the project.
"I think all the photographers would say
that being inside the plant was a unique and rewarding experience,"
says Williams, who adds he aimed for non-artsy photos and is very
satisfied with the variety of styles and subject matter.
"All of us found a treasure chest that
was historically, artistically and spiritually rewarding. I think
the public will also find it fascinating."
The Wisconsin Historical Museum is located
at 30 N. Carroll St., on the Capitol Square. Gallery hours are Tuesday-Saturday,
9 a.m.-4 p.m. The museum is closed on Sundays, Mondays and major
holidays. Admission is free with a suggested donation of $3 for
adults and $2 for children under 18. Tours are available. For information,
call 264-6555 or visit ww.wisconsinhistory.org/museum.
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