Agricultural Expansion and the Food System

This on-going research project investigates the relationship of food-systems, broad transformations in agriculture since the mid 19th century, and the global metabolic exchange of commodities and nutrients. It is based on two distinct case studies: the early years of scientific farming, coinciding with the beginning of the fertiliser industry in Victorian era Britain, and the contemporary expansion of genetically modified soybean crops in Argentina. Both cases – historically linked through Britain’s economic relationship with South America – are emblematic of the deep-rooted systemic rifts and turning points in agricultural transformation through capitalist modernisation.

This project combines multiple data sources and knowledge bases as an experimental contribution to the field of political ecology. It includes fieldwork in Britain and in northern Argentina as a central means of knowledge production. This research is based on moving image, photographic documentation, archival and geodata research, interviews and field notes, bringing diverse formats and fields of inquiry into conversation. This audio-visual material is the basis for an interactive research archive, and a multi-screen video installation as the final presentation of the practice project.

 

Published: Land, Ernährung und Gesundheit im Chaco Salteño (German language)

in: Lateinamerika Nachrichten Nr. 587 – Mai 2023

 

Mapping land-use change in northern Argentinas Chaco

digital collage, 2023

 

Research videos:

Food System

Work in progress, 2023

 

Dispossession

Work in progress, 2023