galería perdida opening at Recess Gallery
5 x 5 x 5
5x5x5 is a gardening and curatorial experiment in non-monetary exchange through artistic production and food production. Five artists are asked to produce an artwork/performance/creative product in exchange for produce grown specifically for them in a 5' x 5' raised garden bed.The project will take place during the growing season (April - October 2011) and will be the site of events and gatherings throughout the summer and into the fall to celebrate and share the fruits of our labor.
This project is conceived and organized by Ann Chen and Nora Herting and is located in Prospect Heights Brooklyn, NY
Participating artists:
Emcee C.M., Master of None
galería perdida
Gabriela Vainsencher
Sarah Walko http://www.sarahwalko.com
Nick Yulman and Ryan Murdock
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Nick Yulman and Ryan Murdock’s Grown Music
[Flash 10 is required to watch video]
gabriela vainsencher’s video “nora’s garden”
Harvest Celebration
On Sunday, September 18th we gathered together to share our harvest and artwork with a harvest celebration, the culmination of 5x5x5, a gardening experiment in bartering, alternative economies and trade, that looked to compare the processes of gardening with those of art making. We used as much of the produce as we could harvest from the garden to create the following menu:
Menu
Garden Beet and Peach Salad
Garden Tabouli
Garden Pesto salad
Carrots and Garden Mint
Gazpacho (garden tomato)
Pickles and cornbread by Emcee C.M., Master of None
Cocktails by Kelly Rio Saxton: Lavender fade away, Minters Mark
Papas con salsa verde by galería perdida
galería perdida roasted the jalapenos, habaneros, and serrano peppers from their garden plot to create a delicious salsa for their dish, papas con salsa verde (boiled potatoes topped with green salsa), a popular mexican street food snack often served in small clear plastic bags. Children often like to smush the potatoes in the bag to create mashed potatoes and then tear open a corner of the bag to squeeze out the mush. Delicious.
They screened a video, No Estoy, the second film in a series about a rural Mexican town. The subject of the short video is Memo, a local homeless man, whom everyone in the town seems to know. Discovering upon arrival to shoot the film that the protagonist had recently disappeared, the artists spend most of their time interviewing local residents about the whereabouts and characteristics of the missing man.
Emcee C.M., Master of None (Colin McMullan), as part of his project, was interested in tree stewardship, particularly of a struggling gingko sapling on Nora’s block. He excavated bricks that surrounded the poor tree to create more space for its root structure. With the exhumed bricks and some mortar, he created a border around the tree and also planted some flowers. A friendly neighbor contributed mulch to the project and helped with weeding.
During the dinner, Colin gave a seed saving demonstration with the seeds from the cherry tomato plants we grew in his plot. In addition, we all sampled his pickled cucumbers and cherry tomatoes.
Nick Yulman and Ryan Murdoch screened Grown Music, a video and sound piece that used the time lapse footage of their garden plot shot over the course of 3 months as a score/data source for creating algorithmic music. The growth and movement of the garden’s plants are reflected in sound generated by a program that analyses changing patterns in each frame of the video. The music uses both electronically generated sounds and recordings of the plants themselves. The video was screened directly above the garden plot that served as the visuals and audio source.
Gabriela Vainsencher also screened a video directly above her flower plot. The silva and cosmos in her bed cast beautiful shadows on her projection. Featuring the image of the still-barren garden bed she photographed at the beginning of the project, very different elements grew forth in her animation.
Nick and Ryan will continue documenting their bed until the season is officially done and will incorporate that footage into their music/video piece.
Many thanks to the artists and friends who helped us with this project. It was so much fun and we can’t wait to do another iteration in 2012.
Ann + Nora
Harvesting and cooking for tomorrow’s festivities.
video still from “Good Thing I’m Not In Charge”, 2011, my video response to 5x5x5
Gabriela Vainsencher
Seed Harvesting and Seed Library
As the growing season is slowly drawing to a close, Emcee C.M Master of None has begun the process to harvest seeds from the super cherry tomato plants that has overwhelmed us with a bounty of delicious tomatoes since July.
At the New Museum’s Festival for Ideas, I encountered the Hudson Valley Seed Library run by Ken Greene and Doug Muller. According to their website:
The Hudson Valley Seed Library strives to do two things:
- to create an accessible and affordable source of regionally-adapted seeds that is maintained by a community of caring farmers and gardeners; and,
- to create gift-quality seed packs featuring works designed by New York artists in order to celebrate the beauty of heirloom gardening.
My favorite item in their very extensive catalog is the Art Packs, seed packets that are designed by New York artists.
