During the orientation week (Monday, October 15 to Friday, October 19, 2012), hungry first-year students and seasoned canteen guests can expect a vegan dish every day – the Discrete Farms plate. In cooperation between the Studentenwerk Oldenburg and the Edith-Russ-Haus for Media Art, art and cafeteria operations will be brought together. The Studentenwerk, which has been committed to expanding the vegetarian and vegan options in the canteen for years, will also be showing videos from factory≠farm during the orientation week.
The cooperation is part of the supporting program of the solo exhibition Discrete Farms. The meat has to come from somewhere by Cologne-based artist duo Ute Hörner and Mathias Antlfinger at the Edith-Russ-Haus for Media Art. Tense topics such as criticism of factory farming are combined to form a committed position in contemporary media art. With their diverse, humorous installation factory≠farm, Hörner/Antlfinger take an artistic approach to the gigantic fattening facilities in the Oldenburg region and convey this current political issue to the public with unexpected, ironic and yet clearly positioned works. Our romanticized image of the farm is juxtaposed with the reality of the automated meat production industry.
The two films Hasen -sich ein Bild machen, etwas zu Ende denken, which can be seen between October 15 and 19 in the Mensa on the Uhlhornsweg campus, document the conversations of two rabbit puppets. As alter egos of the artist couple, they are engaging mediators for the audience when they talk about their experiences – about a cycle tour through the Oldenburg countryside, along a fattening stable route published by Attac, about the fear of the animals they see in the facilities, as well as the fear of the farmer who lies in wait for them with a shotgun. Finally, they indulge in wild fantasies about future technological alternatives to meat production, because “the meat has to come from somewhere”.
The artists act behind the puppets like ventriloquists in black camouflage suits. Their guerrilla outfits refer on the one hand to terrorists conveying a message of confession, and on the other to images of liberation actions by autonomous animal rights activists. The masks also stand for the depersonalization within the automated, meat-producing industry, in which the farmer no longer knows every animal by name. The rabbits’ dialogues invite us to think along, to disagree from time to time – after all, there is a consensus that we don’t always have to take rabbits seriously – and to discuss further.
In this cooperation with the Studentenwerk, the artistic practice, which is also understood as activist, wants one thing above all: to taste good!
You are also cordially invited to the exhibition Discrete Farms. The meat has to come from somewhere , at the Edith-Russ-Haus for Media Art until November 25.