Gastro-Vision is Live

Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis, Truck Farm, 2009. Courtesy of treehugger.com

Things are really cookin' over at the Art21 blog. Today, I launched Gastro-Vision, a monthly column dedicated to all things food in contemporary art and visual culture. Part 1 of my first post features Truck Farm by Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis. An excerpt:

Documentary filmmakers Ian Cheney and Curtis Ellis, known for their 2007 award-winning film King Corn, have converted the bed of a 1986 Dodge Ram pick-up truck into a mobile garden. Both a summer food project and film, Truck Farm, combines green-roof technology, organic compost, and heirloom seeds, bringing fresh food wherever these guys may drive....The social value of Truck Farm is evident: the model brings us a teeny step closer to a more just food system, in which good, whole foods can be grown and easily distributed where they are needed. It also broadens the possibilities for ownership of “farmable land.” But having described the piece as an art installation, I wanted to hear more about the farm’s aesthetic growth, so to speak.

Read more.