Artists and the Practice of Agriculture: Politics and Aesthetics of Food Sovereignty in Art since 1960

by Silvia Bottinelli

Overview

Artists and the Practice of Agriculture maps out examples of artistic practices that engage with the aesthetics and politics of gathering food, growing edible and medicinal plants, and interacting with non-human collaborators. In the hands of contemporary artists, farming and foraging become forms of visual and material language that convey personal and political meanings.

This book provides a critical analysis of artistic practices that model alternative food systems. It presents rich academic insights as well as 16 conversations with practicing artists. The volume addresses pressing issues, such as the interconnectedness of human and other-than-human beings, the weight of industrial agriculture, the legacy of colonialism, and the promise of place-based and embodied pedagogies. Through participatory projects, the artists discussed here reflect on the links between past histories, present challenges, and future solutions for the food sovereignty of local and networked communities.

The book is an easy-to-navigate resource for readers interested in food studies, visual and material cultures, contemporary art, ecocriticism, and the environmental humanities.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780367200794
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	07/31/2023
Series:	Critical Food Studies
Pages:	284
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.19(h) x (d)

About the Author

Silvia Bottinelli (PhD University of Pisa) is Senior Lecturer and Chair of the Visual and Material Studies Department, School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University. Dr. Bottinelli's scholarship focuses on contemporary food-based art as well as twentieth and twenty-first-century Italian art. With Margherita d’Ayala Valva, she co-edited the volume The Taste of Art (2017) and a special issue of Public Art Dialogue on "Food and Activism in Contemporary Art" (2018). Dr. Bottinelli also co-edited Lead in Modern and Contemporary Art with Sharon Hecker (2021), and single-authored the book Double-Edged Comforts: Domestic Life in Modern Italian Art and Visual Culture (2021). Dr. Bottinelli’s research has been widely published in edited volumes and scholarly journals such as Art Journal, Modernism/modernity, Public Art Dialogues, Food Studies, Palinsesti, Predella, and Ricerche di Storia dell’Arte. Her scholarship was supported by grants of the Italian Art Society, the Center for Italian Modern Art, the American Philosophical Society, and the Tufts Tisch College Faculty Fellowship, among others. Dr. Bottinelli received an International Award for Excellence from the Food Studies Research Network.

Table of Contents

Framing the field: An Introduction

The Matter of Artists and the Practice of Agriculture

The Visual and Material Language of Agriculture as Art: The Example of Hunger by Ghada Amer

Contributions, Scope, and Disciplinary Perspective of This Book

Chapters’ Overview, Author Positionality, and Writing Process

Acknowledgements

Section I

Chapter 1: Experiences of Human and Other-Than-Human Interconnection through Agriculture in Contemporary Art.

Preparing the Terrain: Historical Contexts and Theoretical Lens

Becoming Plant: Giuseppe Penone

Energy Flows and Non-Hierarchical Interactions. Bonnie Ora Sherk

The Healing and Spiritual Power of Agriculture: Joseph Beuys

Agricultural Knowledges and Economies: Global Tools and Gianfranco Baruchello.

Fluidity against Binaries: Fritz Haeg

Beyond Utopia: Adaptation and Community for Kamin Lertchaiprasert and Rirkrit Tiravanija, and Artist as Family

Place-Based Knowledges and Interconnectedness in Contemporary Indigenous Art: Jolene Rickard and Elizabeth James-Perry

Conversation with Bonnie Ora Sherk

Conversation with Fritz Haeg

Conversation with Artist as Family (Meg Ulman and Patrick Jones)

Conversation with Jolene Rickard

Section II

Chapter 2: Confronting Technology in the Field: Reimagining Agriculture for Food Sovereignty and Environmental Remediation.

Dialectics, Tautology, and Paradox: Agnes Denes

DIY Technology and the Power of Agribusiness: Critical Art Ensemble

Biopolitics, Biopiracy, and Sexuality: Ines Doujak

The Agency of Plants: Li Shan, Natalie Doonan, and Maria Thereza Alves

Climate Change Adaptation, Historical Technologies, and Gardens: The Harrisons and Nida Sinnokrot

Conversation with Maria Thereza Alves

Conversation with Natalie Doonan

Conversation with Nida Sinnokrot

Section III

Chapter 3: Colonial Legacies in Agriculture and Art: Labor, Memory, and Healing

Extraction, Exploitation, and Colonial Trades

Honoring Diversity through Plants and Food in Australia: Lauren Berkowitz

Colonial Histories and Today’s African Diasporas: Binta Diaw

Connecting Cuba, China, West Africa and North America: Edible and Medicinal Plants in María Magdalena Campos-Pons’s Practice

Food Security and Artistic Cross-Pollination at Yinka Shonibare’s Ecology Green Farm in Nigeria

Abolition, Imagination, and Community Gardening in the USA: jackie sumell and Seitu Jones

The Politics of Urban Agriculture in Hong Kong

Conversation with Lauren Berkowitz

Conversation with María Magdalena Campos-Pons

Conversation with jackie sumell

Conversation with Seitu Jones

Section IV

Chapter 4: Embodied Pedagogies and Knowledges Exchange through Art Farming. Health, Nutrition, and Sense of Place

Awareness and Social Equity through Food-based Pedagogy: A Theoretical Framework.

Hydroponic Systems and Community Care in Response to the AIDS Crisis: Haha

Cycles of Learning: Sensorial and Spiritual Resilience in Tattfoo Tan’s Experience

Floating Ecosystems: Mary Mattingly

Civic Fruit and Public Art: Participation for Fallen Fruit and Lisa Kyung Gross

Being with Bees: Juan William Chávez’s Creative Pedagogy Against Racist Histories

Queer Ecologies and Cross-Species Interaction: Eli Brown

Making with Fungi: Urbonas Studio and Mycelium

Ever-Changing Traditions: Unlearning and Experimenting for the Scuola delle Agricolture

Conversation with Haha (Richard House, Wendy Jacob, Laurie Palmer, John Ploof)

Conversation with Tattfoo Tan

Conversation with Lisa Kyung Gross

Conversation with Juan William Chávez

Conversation with Eli Brown

Editorial Reviews

"Climate action alarm bells have been ringing for decades and while some people are only now hearing the call, countless artists have been engaged in environmental arts for decades. Through this book, Bottinelli brings critical awareness to a group of artists who have been working through the lens of agriculture. With perceptive essays and a collection of in-depth artist interviews, Bottinelli takes a serious look at how the arts can contribute to understanding and adapting to the challenges our food systems face in a rapidly changing global environment."

-Cameron Cartiere, Professor of Public Art and Social Practice, Emily Carr University of Art and Design

From the Publisher