Custom-cut vinyl on retroreflective aluminum traffic signs, 12"x18"
These custom-made signs are inspired by advertising slogans and logos from
biotechnology companies often found along the fields in the Midwest. They
are advertising artifacts that also tell stories about the intertwined
relationship between biotechnology, agriculture, land and profit in the
context of Midwest soybean production.
There is a cinematic quality to these signs when experienced in the
landscape from the vantage point of a car traveling down two-lane rural
roads passing field after field marked with these colorful micro-narratives
of promise and production.
The presentation of the signs can be accompanied by pressed soybean plants
displayed like specimens in a herbarium collection. Together with the
preserved soybean plants, the signs then create narratives that allow
critical reflection about changing climate conditions and biotechnological
strategies. While the common story of success and high yields remains the
same, environmental conditions are shifting, resulting - in Midwest drought
years such as 2012 - in tensions between narratives of desire and agricultural
reality.
