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Unmanned Pig Farm: Elkhart, KS
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Unmanned Pig Farm: Elkhart, KS
by bratticus » Mon 21 Dec 2009, 18:43:28
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'G')row Finish Unit (near Elkhart, Kansas) 2008 is an intricately detailed reconstruction of a large, unmanned pig production facility in the Great Southern Plains region of the United States. It documents a horrifyingly functional agricultural reality: the denial of animal dignity within contemporary food production, and the reduction of contract between farmer and farmed to one of pure technicality. Moving around the perimeter of the scene, we pass a vast lake of excrement, sparkling in the blazing sun, while a series of computer-automated silos relentlessly pump nitrogen-derived corn feed into the sheds. The finish in the title is enacted by a fleet of trucks that will arrive at a designed but unscripted moment within the work's unfolding to silently remove the 'completed' inhabitants and replace them with new ones. At no point are these many thousands of animals visible, as is the case in reality.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUpFgwHzvyg
Last edited by Ferretlover on Mon 01 Mar 2010, 19:47:09, edited 2 times in total.
Reason: Clarified title.
Reason: Clarified title.
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bratticus - Permanently Banned
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Re: Grow / Finnish Unit - John Gerrard
by Jotapay » Mon 21 Dec 2009, 18:49:03
Can we get a little more info about what we're looking at here? That doesn't look like a lake of poop, but a containment pond.
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Re: Grow / Finnish Unit - John Gerrard
by bratticus » Wed 23 Dec 2009, 09:00:52
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Jotapay', 'C')an we get a little more info about what we're looking at here? That doesn't look like a lake of poop, but a containment pond.
It's an artist's representation--part of a series.
http://www.johngerrard.net/
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '[')u]Grow Finish Unit (Eva, Oklahoma), 2008
'Grow Finish Unit (Eva, Oklahoma) 2008' is a detailed representation of an unmanned pig production site near to Boise City, Oklahoma, USA. It completes a sequence of works that includes Animated Scene (Oil Field) 2007 and Dust Storm (Dalhart, Texas) 2007.
The work documents the extremes of functionality to be found at the start of the industrialized food production chain. It is also significant in the light of recent works that the pigs are exclusively raised on corn which is in turn grown using nitrogen derived from oil and gas, thus rendering the occupants of these sheds, in essence, oil derived pigs. References to minimalist sculpture through to the photography of Bernd and Hilla Becher can also be identified within the work.
Behind the eight sheds that are the focus of the work lies a large effluent lake which is surprisingly beautiful as it reflects the sky. An autonomous virtual wind animates the surface dust in an ongoing and open way, creating the principal movements in the piece. In a symbolic moment of exchange within the work, reflecting the growth cycle of the pigs enclosed there, a single transport truck pulls to each building every 6-8 months and waits for 1 hour. At no point are the many thousands of occupants of the eight sheds visible, as this is the case in reality.
As in other works, the public use the frame attached to a physical sculpture to navigate a large arc around the scene. Grow / Finish Unit (Eva, Oklahoma) 2008 unfolds in realtime over the 365 days of the year and light conditions through dawn and dusk match that of the local site.
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '[')u]Grow Finish Unit (near Elkhart, Kansas), 2008
'Grow Finish Unit (near Elkhart, Kansas) 2008' is an intricately detailed virtual representation of a large pig production facility in the Great Southern Plains region of the United States.
Its appearance documents a horrifyingly functional agricultural reality and illustrates both a contemporary denial of animal dignity and the reduction of contract between farmer and farmed to a purely technical, almost contactless process. A viewer-controlled camera permits oversight by the work's audience. Circling the scene at their command, it unflinchingly surveys vast lakes of excrement sparkling in the sun while squat computer-controlled silos relentlessly pump nitrogen-derived corn feed.
The finish of the title is represented by a 6-8 month orbit of exchange in the work – a fleet of trucks will arrive at some designed but unscripted point to silently remove and replace the occupants. As in life, a blazing sun relentlessly circles in a 12-month orbit of its own.
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