ESSAY
text by GRACE DENIS
artwork by DOUG AITKEN
american artist grace denis merges agricultural research with interactive installations incorporating edible material, sound, and text
What does the future of food entail in an era of dwindling resources? And what are the prospects for an exhausted terrain that has to meet the caloric needs of 10 billion people by the year 2050? To sketch out speculative agricultural futures, we must examine the paradoxical role of technology in current food systems: technology is a means to increase efficiency while simultaneously provoking ecological devastation. Sections of the world’s land most suited to cultivation are expected to experience drastic climate change, affecting production and jeopardizing currently stable food sources. With the rise of biotechnology and genetic engineering, the line between the natural and the fabricated becomes increasingly blurred. Industrial agriculture perpetuates desecration despite its idealized intent to satisfy an ever-expanding population. The…