“When I thought about creating a public art installation in New York, which is something I’ve always wanted to do, I thought it would just be really disruptive to be able to plant a rice paddy right in the heart of New York City,” said Ms. Chang, who has a background in art history and art curation. And she said it isn’t a coincidence that the paddy is across from the 9/11 Memorial and Museum.

“We wanted to create something that amplified renewal through remembrance,” Ms. Chang said. “And then you can talk about urban farming and issues of sustainability and responsible growing, climate change, and how we’re going to feed the world — because rice really is the grain that feeds the world.”

Ms. Chang partnered with the Port Authority to plant the rice, which will continue to grow through Sept. 26, when it will be harvested for a feast atop 3 World Trade Center.

This isn’t the first downtown harvest. The rice paddy is an echo of Agnes Denes’s “Wheatfield: A Confrontation,” an installation from 1982, in which the artist planted wheat atop the landfill that is now Battery Park City.

“‘Wheatfield’ was such a great recognition of, like, yes, you can produce this type of food that’s typically in the Midwest here in New York, a block away from the World Trade Center, and this is what it looks like,” said Jeremy Katich, Project Manager from ZH Architects, who built the wooden structure for the paddy. The company used sustainable cross-laminated timber strong enough to hold the several tons of soil and water necessary to grow rice.