"Artgricultura": la agricultura como una práctica artística comunitaria

Abstract

Although until the 1970s the role of the city and the construction of the urban imaginary had been a major theme not only in the social sciences but also in art and culture, it was not until the 1980s that a progressive revival began in rural studies and an interest on the part of artists inspired by land art to integrate agricultural gestures and knowledge into their works emerged. It is in this experiential and sometimes communal relationship with agriculture that we can identify the origin of artgriculture, a term coined by Julie Creen (2024) to activate different actions of resistance related to ecological transition, the misuse of land, the evolution of the agri-food system and, in general, to ways of cooperating with situated knowledge. To analyse these aspects, we refer to the historical figure of Gianfranco Baruchello and the thought of George Chan and then delve into curatorial projects such as: Green Acres: Artists Farming Fields, Greenhouses and Abandoned Lots (2012), Potential Agrarianisms (2021) and Artistes et paysans - Battre la campagne (2024). A separate section is occupied by the artistic practices of Fernando García-Dory, one of the founders of INLAND - Campo Adentro (Madrid) and one of the main promoters of the relationship between art and agriculture.

KEYWORDS: Artgriculture, Rurality re-imagined, Farming as Art, agrofeminism, ecofeminism, food sovereignty, environmental activism.