FRANCESA
RANCESWR
ANCESWHT
NCESWHIE
CESWHITT
ESWHITEA
SWHITEHL
WHITEHE
HITEHEA
ITEHEAD
TWHEADF
EHEADFR
HEADFRA
EADFRAN
ADFRANC
DFRANCE

DATE

August 2015

COLLABORATORS

Deirdre O'Mahony
Jim Elniski

PARTNERS

The Burren College of Art
Green Foundation Ireland
County Clare Arts Office
Centre for Creative Arts and Media, GMIT

MILLER PARTICIPANTS/CONTRIBUTORS

Ellen Grimes
Katie Green
Steve Juras
Michelle Litvin
Ailbhe Murphy
John Ploof
Carmella Saraceno
Ciaran Smyth
Jan Tichy
Lan Tuazon
David Tuazon
Tricia Van Eyck
Rachel Weiss
Frances Whitehead

A series of reciprocal AGRI+CULTURAL events frame a participatory work by Irish artist Deirdre O’Mahony + Chicago artist Frances Whitehead, based on the pan-atlantic diaspora of new world tubers, the potato Solanum tuberosum and the sweet potato Ipomoea batatas.

Perched on the edge of Lake Michigan near Chicago, the post-industrial US midwest has much in common with the post-agricultural midwest of Ireland. Declining population and a changing landscape invite creative re-envisioning. Based on the global importance of new world tubers, these tasting events reflect the ongoing movement of plants and people that shape the food system and the landscape.

The condition of the passive consumer of food is not a democratic condition.
–Wendell Berry

A performance in time and space, the core of the work consists of simultaneous parmentiers or potato tastings, linked by telepresence –food + conversation about creativity and food futures. A mirrored pair of tuber plantings in the Miller community of Gary, Indiana, US, and in the Burren, Ireland, each containing the two important tubers, serve as backdrop for the events, and stand in agri+cultural solidarity with tuber growers and eaters everywhere. These events are held in concert with the ART, FOOD SECURITY + CLIMATE CHANGE symposium and exhibition at the Burren College of Art, Ireland. The symposium, exhibition, and the tastings are funded by the Green Foundation Ireland.

This project is an ongoing collaboration between artists Frances Whitehead and Deirdre O’Mahony concerning the role of culture in shaping the future. Frances Whitehead collaborates with artist Jim Elniski on the Modest Modernism project in Miller, host to the US planting and conversation.