Artists and the Practice of Agriculture

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.

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.

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