Germinal

Edition of 300 unique numbered bags with original frottage containing: brochure, seeds for planting, certifi ed organic cotton T-shirt with six types of split-fountain screen prints and hand-embroidery work, 44 x 20 cm each. Photo by Bepi Ghiotti, Greta Stella
In collaboration with: Anabasi; Paolo Prossen; Associazione Closer, Venice; Bepi Ghiotti; Orti Generali, Turin; Casa delle Agricolture, Castiglione d’Otranto; Nicola Ferrero; Continental Clothing; Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea, Rivoli; MA*GA, Gallarate

The work is a collaborative process that takes its title from Émile Zola’s 1885 novel of the same name and the seventh month of the French Republican calendar (March 21—April 19). In 2020, during the COVID-19 lockdown, the artist worked on the six drawings that make up this series, where art and agricultural practice are juxtaposed to highlight similarities and points of contact, from space and soil analysis to art production and planting, over the course of six working days. Migliora thus wants to emphasize how both art and agriculture are healing practices essential to our lives: one as nourishment of the mind, the other of the body. Thinking of an accessible edition that would generate new collaborations, the drawings were then screen-printed on white embroidered T-shirts and placed in a bag designed with an original frottage by the artist, containing seeds selected by Casa delle Agriculture, an agroecological project in Salento, which has been researching endangered ancient seeds for years.

Germinal 1#, Monday. Using the coring metaphor, I show the parallelism between soil analysis for crop production and site inspection for an artistic project. These valuations provide the bases for planning integrated with the existing ecosystem, in both art and agriculture.

Germinal 2#, Tuesday. The drawing shows the different stratifications of the soil and the tools used to till it and prepare it for sowing. The various strata below the surface effectively symbolise the work of research and analysis (digging deep) typical of the artist’s process; preparatory work necessary in farmwork as in artwork.

Germinal 3#, Wednesday. In the drawing, the chemical and mineral components of a grain of sand become fundamental themes in my research. A parallel is drawn between the draining action performed by earthworms and the creative process, in which study and learning generate humus and fertile substance: the idea.

Germinal 4#, Thursday. The drawing relates composting and analysis of contemporaneity in the artistic process. In both cases, the result is a process of valorisation of the starting materials (dried leaves, scraps of food, texts analysed, reflections, preparatory drawings) thanks to stratification, sedimentation, and reaction and decomposition time.

Germinal 5#, Friday. The drawing conjures up the theme of the framework: just as, in agriculture, trellises are used to support climbing plants, in art the concept is the structure on which the finished work is built.

Germinal 6#, Saturday. The final stage in the research process is the moment prior to a work’s production, the transition from concept to practice. In this final drawing, it is compared to the planning of sowing and the choice of crops to combine for the best yield possible.

Marzia Migliora, “Germinal”

Works

Germinal