Towards a Museum of Contemporary Farming: A walk through and
discussion of agricultural dioramas in the Science Museum
Led by artist Georgina Barney with invited guests:
Guy Smith, Vice President of the National Farmers’ Union
Kate Genever, artist and farmer
Alice Carey, curator
Mary Cavanagh, Science Museum London
Wednesday 29th June 2016, 7:30-9pm
Agriculture Gallery
Science Museum
Exhibition Road
London SW7 2DD
Georgina Barney has been exploring the relationship between art and farming since her ‘GB Farming’ project in 2007, an eight month journey around fourteen farms across the UK. Celebrating the ten year anniversary of this project and closing her Kickstarter Campaign to publish ‘GB Farming’ as a book, she has invited speakers from contemporary art, the farming industry and the Science Museum to reflect upon how farming is collectively imagined and how it is represented in art. Using the historic agricultural dioramas in the heart of London as a starting point, Barney invites proposals from the group on how to update the dioramas as an imaginary ‘Museum of Contemporary Farming’.
The event will take place during the ‘Science Museum Lates’ on Wednesday 29th June. Please be aware that the building may be quite busy. We will start in the Agriculture Gallery at 7:30pm and be moving to a meeting room directly upstairs at 8pm.
Directions to the Agriculture Gallery: After entering the Museum from Exhibition Road walk through the Energy Hall directly ahead. Take the stairs on your right. At the top of the stairs the Agriculture Gallery is on your right.
Alternatively, Kathrin Böhm will meet people at 7.15pm at the main entrance to the Science Museum on Exhibition Road.
About Georgina Barney
‘GB Farming’ was the first of a number of projects by Georgina Barney that explore the relationship between ‘Art’ and ‘Farming’. In 2007, she lived and worked on a series of fourteen farms, bearing witness in her blog and artwork to a wide spectrum of agriculture, from crofting and family farming to industrially-scaled ‘agri-business’ in the UK. In preparation for its ten-year anniversary and the publication of a new book of ‘GB Farming’, Barney is hosting a series of events. Barney has worked extensively with farmers, farming communities and agencies such as the National Farmers’ Union to explore questions about farming in practice-led research. What is farming and how do we imagine it? How is farming represented in traditions such as the pastoral and naive livestock portraiture? Who has authority or authenticity to speak of farming? How should farming be represented in contemporary art?
Barney studied at the Ruskin School of Fine Art, Oxford University (2003-2006). Her MPhil research project ‘Curating the Farm’ was funded by the Arts And Humanities Council (2011). She is based at PRIMARY, Nottingham.
georginabarney.com
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1621463073/gbfarming
