Whether in pasta, bread, cakes or beer - we consume grains almost every day. Aside from the most commonly used hybrid grain varieties, such as wheat flour or bread wheat, ancient grains are slowly making a comeback. Native grains were cultivated many thousands of years ago, before they were almost completely displaced by the supposedly more efficient hybrid seed. However, there are many good reasons for reverting back to old grain varieties: more diversity in the fields, nutritional benefits, the special taste, organic qualities, resistance to diseases, as well as socio-political and ecological reasons.As Rahibai Popere, a breeder of old seeds, reports, the switch to hybrid seeds has put farmers in her homeland India in a hopeless long-term situation: "Farmers take out loans to buy the seeds and the fertilizers for cultivation from large-scale producers. Unfortunately, yields eventually decline because the seeds weaken our soils. Since they have no money to pay back the loans, it becomes difficult for farmers to make a living. One has to help them by showing them the benefits of native seeds."The exhibition space sp a c e d ou t and Gut Kerkow, in collaboration with Galerie König, are pleased to present the exhibition KORN, a joint project by Danish artist Tue Greenfort and the seed association VERN e.V..Tue Greenfort is known for artworks that both reflect and generate a strong ecological consciousness. The artist understands humanity as a marginal part of a much larger whole and links the question of progress - be it technical, cultural or interpersonal - to how we are able to rethink and reshape our position in the world. Against the backdrop of global contexts, Greenfort questions our approach to environmental and species protection as well as resources and sustainability with regard to the scarcity of certain raw materials, and relates these issues to the system of art. His projects are characterized by an interdisciplinary openness and extensive research.For the exhibition KORN Tue Greenfort contacted the seed association VERN e.V., located in the district of Greiffenberg / Angermünde, in order to take a critical look at- and technically underpin the high breeding of crops - in particular grains -, the their efficiency, monoculturalization as a phenomenon and its consequences. 

VERN e.V. is an association whose mission is to preserve the memory and knowledge of old and rare cultivated plants by making information about their cultural breeding history, cultivation, handling and use accessible and readily available. In its central display- and propagation garden, the association maintains a collection of useful and ornamental plants from more than 2,000 origins.For his project in July of this year, Tue Greenfort was permitted to take several original grain plants of different varieties from the association's display- and propagation garden in order to create bronze casts of them in their entire appearance, including ear, stalk and leaves. Four of these casts will be exhibited in the old granary of the Kerkow estate, and a further six will be on display as part of his solo exhibition at Galerie König in Berlin. In addition to Greenfort’s bronze sculptures, the seed association VERN e.V. will also present an antique germination cabinet and background information about the shown seed sprouts and seeds of ancient varieties, their conservation and their use. At the opening, employees of the association will be present and answer the questions of the audience.

​

SPACED OUT | Gut Kerkow Greiffenberger Strasse 8 16278 Kerkow spacedout@gut-kerkow.de

Open daily 10am – 6pm