Gotham Handbook first appeared in 1999 as part of Double Game, a bookwork by French artist Sophie Calle. It is a document of a collaboration between the artist and author Paul Auster, who issued Calle with instructions on how to improve life in New York City through a series of artistic interventions.
In 1982 Agnes Denes staged 'Wheatfield - A Confrontation'. Where she planted a two-acre field of wheat in a vacant lot in downtown Manhattan, one of the most financially valuable and coveted areas of land.
The work puts into perspective "human values and misplaced priorities". The artwork yeiled 1,000 lbs of wheat, which then traveled around the world as part of 'the International Art Show for the End of World Hunger'.