Planet Diversity World Congress on the Future of Food and Agriculture

Art Exposition at the Conference Venue

Seven artists brought form, color, texture and light to the conference venue.
Art plays a fundamental role both in how we express as well as how we understand diversity.

The Artists:

Anke Ikelle-Matiba (Imka)

Art installation “mirror of nature”: Painted sculptures on driftwood from the Rhine bridge
Web: www.imka-kunst.de

Gisela Mack

Paintings: “Burning after”
info@gisela-mack.de

Kunst-Agentur Vera Christ

1.    Eric Mayen – Photo – Titel: Frühling
2.    Reinhard Doubrawa – Papertarsia – Titel: Auf meinem Weg ins Paradies
3.    Ingo Botho Reize – Picture with Algae – Titel: Algenbild, 2007
Web: www.kunstagentur.com

Laura Sevilla San Miguel

The images of Laura Sevilla fit in more poetic interventions, than those that give subjectivity and denature the landscape of the city, but they do it reversibly, transferring their skin to superimpose records inside the same movie. Already we attended to try to freeze an image and now to try to show the swiftness of time and its synergies, incorporating the movement not as frozen image but as specific moment.
sevilla@diesein.net

Men Duri Melcher

Stained glass window Art with Recyclingmaterial and Seeds
Web: www.menduriart.com

Sabine Naumann-Cleve

Installation on GMOs and Natur
„Vielfältige Einfalt“, 2005, Plastic potatoes, acryl, plastic flower, gravesoil
The new artificial product attracts seductively with its seemingly innocuous and harmless manner. Every potato is shining yellow. On its topside is a black sign which reminds you of a stylised leaf. Artificial lily of the valley blooms sprout out of the black sign, so do slim green plastic leafs.
Lilies in the valley belong to the Maryflowers.
According to a legend, lily of the valley once grew there, where the Virgin Mary was sitting next to the crucifix and weeping tears.

„Tränen der Kore“, 2008, modelling clay, applepips, appleblossoms
According to the Greek Mythology Kore, also known as Persephone, is the Goddess of fertility and the underworld. During the winter she lives in the underworld and during the sommer she lives in the wolrd with her mother Demeter.
In times of genetic engineering, that even includes genetically modified apple trees, Kore weeps for the apple, since ever the symbol of richness, fertility and life. Her tears are caught in a mould with the structure of the negative imprint of the bark of an apple tree.

„Tod für die Welt“, 2008, grains of maize, acryl, tablecloth, europallet, packaging, plastic fork
The topics of the work are the problems „hunger in the world“ and the unfair distribution, which are being aggravated further due to genetic engineering.
The white tablecloth and the europallets represent a modern altar of the globalised world of goods.
The blackened grains of maize are arranged in the shape of a cross, which reminds you of the humanitarian organisation „Red Cross“. They could be associated with the points of the compass. The black forks come from a fast food chain.

„Das Blaue vom Himmel“, 2006, Cornstalks, plastic coating for shoes
Cornstalks with its roots point into the sky. Partially you can still see soil sticking on them. It almost seems they would shout towards the sky and the world would be upside down. The cornstalks don’t grow in the soil anymore, they are put in blue coatings for shoes, often used in laboratories or reasearch centres.
The title „Das Blaue vom Himmel“ (the blue of the sky) takes up a German idiom and alludes to the supposedly wondrous blessings of genetic engineering, spread by its supporters.

„Wach auf und träum weiter“, 2006, milkbottle, hay, plastic lawn, tiles
In 2006 the average per capita consumption of milk and dairy products was 132 litres. Therefore, 132milkbottles, filled with hay, are standing in the shape of a square of plastic lawn.
The food for dairy cows can contain amounts of gmo-plants. However, the commercials of companies, such as Müller or Landliebe lead the consumer to believe that their milk solely comes from dairy cows, grazing on lush meadows in idyllic surroundings and consequently ingest wholesome food.