With the Fields

Exhibition by with the fields Collective 

 14.09.24 – 12.10.24

 

Vernissage 13.09.24 – 18h

Imagine a gesture of unintended resistance: walking and spreading seeds of trees that will break concrete, an offering to old Mesoamerican gods, cracks that damage modern infrastructures as a way to recuperate cultural capital and community. 

Use field markings, elephant behaviour, non-human species, oral traditions, ghost folklore, traditional material techniques and knowledge systems to chronicle agrarian urgencies, cracked seasons in extracted forests and contaminated water bodies. 

Stitch drawings that incorporate children’s imagings of our relationships with the land and kinship with our non-human neighbors.

The exhibition With the Fields weaves together the lived experiences of communities deeply connected to the land, in regions undergoing dramatic transformation. From the Amazon and the Free Trade Zone in Manaus, Brazil to the Rani Reserve Forest in Assam, India, in Thakurgaon villages in northwest Bangladesh, and Rio Bravo/Rio Grande delta in Mexico, these pieces delve into local narratives of survival, resistance, and ecological care, highlighting their resilience amid environmental degradation, urban encroachment, and cultural shifts. 

with the fields collective (*2022) is a trans-territorial endeavor composed of visual art practitioners with links to – and activations within – rural areas of the Global South. Since 2022 they have been working together on a long-distance basis to share the possibilities and complexities of artistic practice in their respective contexts – on field work, community engagement and activism at (agricultural and coastal) sites. Through the diverse experiences of the collective members, they continually construct common bases from which to speak about rurality, decolonisation, coast, biota and food, from their situated territories. Through their engagement they hope to make visible global patterns that are in detriment of the (cultural and landscape) ecologies of the rural areas where they work. 

with the fields members are Salma Jamal Moushum and Kamruzzaman Shadhin with Gidree Bawlee Foundation of Arts, Nora Hauswirth and Emerson with Arte & Escola na Floresta,  Anga Art Collective, Paloma Ayala and tara lasrado.

Gidree Bawlee Foundation of Arts (*2001) started out as a multidisciplinary platform focused on cultural and artistic explorations. It is a community-based arts organization running various creative programs and research projects in the village of Balia in Thakurgaon, in the northwestern corner of Bangladesh, with participation of several culturally diverse communities. Through its social practice and community focused activities, the organization attempts to create a balance of influence in the artistic process, and through that process, develop projects that respond to local history, culture and the environment.

Anga Art Collective (*2010), situated in rural areas of Assam, northern India, that started the pedagogical initiative kNOw school in 2020. A nomadic, post-disciplinary learning space where the core principle is to nurture empathy, a Pedagogy of Care, they maintain fluid approaches that engage with the spatial and temporal dimensions of a place by combining certain learnings from various disciplines with other ways of learning circulating among communities. They devise tools and procedures of mutual learning that envision egalitarian learning environments to think about the relationships between aesthetics, pedagogy, and ways of life as they navigate different landscapes.

Arte & Escola na Floresta (*2021), based in Manaus, Brazil, gathers people from a wide variety of communities, including people from urban, rural or forestal areas to exchange theoretical and mainly practical knowledge in order to develop forest methodologies and pedagogies that resist contemporary destructive and extractive food practices. Participants come together to plant, harvest, and cook, guided by master farmers, engage in the implementation of agroforestry systems, maintain wild plant gardens, learn about soil management, bioconstruction, natural dyes, etc.

Paloma Ayala (*1980) is a visual artist who moves between the US/MX border and Zürich, working in the intersection of domestic practices, environmental and post-colonial concerns. A constant part of her practice are educational activities and investigations in communities and ecological environments in urban, and especially rural and coastal areas endangered by political and economical systems. Paloma documents this sense of loss through film, performative actions and conversations with family and community members, placing special attention on the diverse practices of the women of the region. She runs coastal and rural community pedagogical programs with cultural worker Javier Dragustinovis. 

tara lasrado is a producer and organiser particularly interested in working on collective, experimental, intersectional and transdisciplinary collaborative works. her practice-based experiences permeate and confronts institutions to find itself in public spaces, no-spaces, agricultural fields and empty theaters.tara has worked in different constellations on production, curatorial, pedagogical and community works. on/with land-based; non-white; and performative practices. 

 

The exhibition includes a text by Mariana Murcia.

Mariana Murcia (taurus, earth dragon) is an artist and a swimmer. Her practice insists on creating and being in situations of thick presence, so thick you can slice it up. It’s see-through but you will never see what’s there. Assuming a performative attitude she often works in collaboration with water, temperature and other people. Sometimes by making schools, making short films, writing, cooking, or listening to the radio. She likes to live and work between Basel, Seydisfjordur and Bogotá.

Graphic Design : Clio Hadjigeorgiou

Exhibition views : Thea Giglio