The installation Paradoxes of Plenty (Canteen Trolleys) – part of the show The Specter of Malthus, curated by Matteo Lucchetti at MA*GA in Gallarate – is a series of collages and drawings tracing the idea of modernity through the history of agriculture and its subjugation to the production of food as a commodity, with the introduction of monocultures, intensive farming, pesticides, and genetically modifi ed organisms. Paradox, as a rhetorical form, serves to illuminate the absurdity of a situation, and the twenty-four panels are displayed, in turn, in a paradoxical situation: each of them, in fact, is arranged on a cafeteria tray placed in three towerlike tray carts. These, in turn, sink half of their wheels into virgin soil, untilled but rich in life and the possibility of harboring new species. The subjects that populate these worlds include laborers from colonial plantations, photomontages of giant fruits and vegetables from tall-tale postcards used to promote the US agricultural industry in the 1950s, or herbicides sold to boost production. The title of the series is borrowed from a chapter in the book An Edible History of Humanity (2009) by the British journalist Tom Standage.
Paradoxes of Plenty (Canteen Trolleys)
2020
Twenty-four drawings, mixed media and collage, 42 x 29 and 29 x 42 cm, three canteen trolleys, 175 x 59 x 67, trays, glass, tub, soil, ∅ 300 cm. Installation view Kunsthalle Bratislava, Bratislava; MA*GA, Gallarate; RADIUS Center for Contemporary Art and Ecology, Delft. Photo by Renato Ghiazza, Alessio Baratella. Courtesy: the artist; Rigo Saitta Collection
The installation Paradoxes of Plenty (Canteen Trolleys), is promoted by MA*GA – Gallarate Art Museum, curated by Matteo Lucchetti, created thanks to the support of Italian Council (6. Edition, 2019), a contemporary art promotion program of the Direzione Generale Creatività Contemporanea del Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali e per il Turismo (General Directorate for Contemporary Creativity of the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism)
Twenty-four drawings, mixed media and collage, 42 x 29 and 29 x 42 cm, three canteen trolleys, 175 x 59 x 67, trays, glass, tub, soil, ∅ 300 cm. Installation view Kunsthalle Bratislava, Bratislava; MA*GA, Gallarate; RADIUS Center for Contemporary Art and Ecology, Delft. Photo by Renato Ghiazza, Alessio Baratella. Courtesy: the artist; Rigo Saitta Collection
The installation Paradoxes of Plenty (Canteen Trolleys), is promoted by MA*GA – Gallarate Art Museum, curated by Matteo Lucchetti, created thanks to the support of Italian Council (6. Edition, 2019), a contemporary art promotion program of the Direzione Generale Creatività Contemporanea del Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali e per il Turismo (General Directorate for Contemporary Creativity of the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism)
