Tag: farming
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Editorial: Fields
In May 1982, American artist Agnes Denes began to transform a two acre empty plot at the foot of the World Trade Center into her work Wheatfield – A Confrontation, Battery Park Landfill. In the prior months, truck loads of dirty landfill had been dumped on the site, consisting of rubble, dirt, rusty pipes, automobile…
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The Burroughs Garret
In The Nature of Gothic, nineteenth-century art critic John Ruskin wrote that there is beauty in imperfection, and that ‘the demand for perfection is always a sign of the misunderstanding of the ends of art.’ He also says that we should celebrate visible evidence of workmanship – chips and flaws – as ‘signs of the…
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Open Call: Fields
*** Fields is currently closed for submissions. We will reopen again soon. You can sign up to our newsletter for updates. *** In May 1982, American artist Agnes Denes began to transform a two acre empty plot at the foot of the World Trade Center into her work Wheatfield – A Confrontation,…
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Clouting
December It takes two years off their life, if they have lambs when they’re shearlings, if they’re going to live on the fells. Not much of the thin wintery daylight filters through the half-open door, and the straw on the floor lends a glow to the place. The barn is chilly and has…
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Carnevale
On the morning of April 21st, my phone showed several missed calls. My colleague Cath had been burgled in the early hours. We spoke briefly as she waited for the police to arrive, and then a text came through, ‘The car’s gone, I’m catching the bus.’ I text back, ‘Forget it, we can postpone’. She…
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What is it like to be a pig?
Most people know little about the characters and habits of the farm animals that live around us, often hidden away from view in large industrial sheds. What are they like, how do they live? Through careful observation we can learn more. Take, for example pigs. Pigs are quite like dogs – friendly, playful, tactile, really…
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How do we improve the lives of pigs?
Ever since the idea of ‘intensifying’ pig production began to be discussed there has been a lively debate surrounding the ‘rights’ and ‘wrongs’ of taking pigs from outside and housing them indoors. Abigail Woodsi has written an historical account of the development of intensive pig production where she has drawn on records to display the…
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Pig Dreams Pig Life
In some dreams we are dead. It is never a surprise. Life doesn’t last long after all. Someone did ask, what is a life? Does it feel like something? Is it solid or a shadow? Comfortable? Forgiveable? ‘A pig is an unlikely bird’, grunted a pig. It couldn’t speak the answers and it wanted to…
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VIDEO: Pigs at Play
This is part of CARNEVALE, a collaborative art-science project that explores animal welfare questions and the enthusiasm of pigs for investigative play. Click to see the rest.
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In pictures: Objects designed for pigs
Popcorn Piñata Pig Kerplunk Melon Mines House of Many Doors Fruit Machine Apple Barrel This is part of CARNEVALE, a collaborative art-science project that explores animal welfare questions and the enthusiasm of pigs for investigative play. Click to see…
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The Undomesticated Chanterelle
The Cantharellus cibarius, most commonly known as chanterelle, is one of the most celebrated wild edible mushroom in the world. You would think by now that this prized fungus, which can be collected in the hundreds in certain wooded areas, would be commercially cultivated. But it is not. In fact, only twenty edible fungal species…