Chicken coop VIDAXL, steel, galvanized
2023
The “Chicken coop VIDAXL” stands in a parking lot between parked cars, in the middle of the underground garage beneath Knödelplatz. It is located directly on the asphalt, surrounded by exhaust fumes and constant neon light. Straw, feed troughs, and water troughs indicate that living creatures are kept here. Although the coop is uninhabited, a large number of eggs indicate that birds once nested here. The eggs are black, some of them deformed, and glass shards protrude from some of them.
The work highlights the enormous repression mechanism
that allows us as a society to ruthlessly oppress and exploit our fellow creatures...
Inspired by research conducted by scientists at Fraunhofer IAO on current food consumption in the Werksviertel district, Judith Egger began to take a closer look at egg production and the lives of chickens. The scientists had determined that the restaurants in the Werksviertel consume 2,500 eggs per week. What would the neighborhood look like in the future if the eggs were produced locally? A large mobile chicken coop was planned for the duration of the exhibition, which would have been placed in the middle of the Werksviertel. Judith Egger wanted to interact performatively with this and, above all, with the chickens. However, it turned out that the owner of this chicken coop had changed his plans—he could no longer reconcile the standards and requirements of professional chicken farming with his conscience and sold his business. This, in turn, drew Judith Egger's attention to the problematic aspects of egg production. The installation “Chicken coop VIDAXL, steel, galvanized” points to the unnatural, violent aspects of our current food production.
The work highlights the enormous repression mechanism that allows us as a society to ruthlessly oppress and exploit our fellow creatures and deny them any right to a species-appropriate and natural life.
Since the “fu:topia” exhibition focuses in particular on food production in the future, this installation aims to provide impetus in this area. Wouldn't it be appropriate to focus much more on the welfare of animals and plants again and to always keep this at the forefront of all considerations when shaping the future?
The installation is a call to action.
... and deny them any right to a species-appropriate and natural life.
fu:topia
Utopian documentary perspectives on urban food production
Where does art end and science begin? The result is often beyond human imagination, but certainly in the case of “fu:topia”:
As part of the project funded by the Fraunhofer Network “Science, Art, and Design” program, artists and researchers have developed perspectives on the urban food production of the future based on the model of the urban district in eastern Munich. They will now be presenting these perspectives in the immersive exhibition “fu:topia” throughout the Werksviertel-Mitte district from July 11 to September 13, 2023.
In a wide variety of forms of presentation at the boundaries of the visual arts, realities, utopias, and dystopias are subversively explored and brought to life. This is based on scientific findings derived from locally collected data, current developments, and trend analyses from research. “The scenarios form an important basis for discussing possible futures for the Werksviertel-Mitte district using coherent images and reflecting on which future is likely, desirable, or to be avoided,” explains project manager Vanessa Borkmann. The exhibition poses questions, simulates answers, and creates interactive points of contact with the future. Scientifically based future scenarios go hand in hand with artistic fiction. The romantic image of a neighborhood hop plantation meets the reality of urban egg production with all its side effects. The exhibition addresses the effects of highly efficient agricultural systems, the endless upcycling cycles of waste products, technologized house facades that are used for food cultivation, and hydroponic desks that become marvels of food production. Anyone who still believes that fish will not be farmed in offices in the future should hurry to experience the strong but fresh breeze of “fu:topia.”
