EXQUISITE CORPUS: THE MAIZE
in New Jerusalem, PA.
A group show that calls on artistic networks to create an exquisite conversation about our relationship to corn, the land and each other-exhibited through environmental installations.
CORN: Syrup. Oil. Fuel. Feed. GMO darling. Movie Companion. Floss Nemesis. Food of mythology and abundance. The New World OG. Exquisite Corpus: The Maize-- A scavenger hunt. A trampoline of dialogue. Whimsy & science. Aethestics & ethics. A mind-maze.
exquisite corpus: The Maize, a group show
If you are what you eat,
and especially if you eat industrial food,
as 99 percent of Americans do,
what you are is ‘corn.'
-Michael Pollan
Inspired by the Surrealist tradition from the 20s and akin to the childhood game of telephone, the Exquisite Corpus model asks each participating artist to invite two colleagues to make a piece of work in response to their own, linking a chain of works to make a group show.
Maize, cultivated and celebrated by the first Natives of America, given to the colonialists and part of our heritage of Thanksgiving, has a rich and complicated history. Today US corn produces 1/3 of all corn in the world on 96 million acres of land. Of that- ethanol, feed and high fructose corn syrup are the main products, none of which directly feed people. Yet corn itself is a heavy feeder of resources and fertilizer, and when used as a feed crop, can be intensive on land and soil and devastating to natural waterways. It is also a local economic bedrock. These somewhat competing interests make for a dynamic canvas for artistic interpretation and conversation. Instead of creating something didactic or polarizing, we hope to hold space for something dynamic, enriching, engaging, beautiful and complicated.
Last January, Holes in the Wall Collective produced Exquisite Corpus in Brooklyn NY, involving 17 artists of many mediums. Now residing in New Jerusalem, Pennsylvania on land run by Art in the Fields , Holes in the Wall Collective rekindles the Exquisite Corpus model, utilizing the PA landscape as the gallery.
Each participating artist or artist group is invited to install an environmental installation in response to the theme and the artists’ piece before them, investigating:
• What is our relationship as humans to the land and what are the consequences of that relationship?
• How do we engage with the past, present and future landscape?
Each artist or artist group spends one week in residence at the Holes in the Wall Collective cabin, with access to the facilities and grounds for work-space.
