MEET MONSANTRA

McColl Center for Visual Art is thrilled to present the Monsantra Project for the first time Charlotte, North Carolina, a collaborative endeavor between The Green Shadow exhibiting artist, Jeff Schmuki and Wendy DesChene. Using seeds from the Monsanto Corporation (one of the largest suppliers and producers of genetically modified seed in the world) edible plants are grafted onto robotic or remote controlled bases to become an organism with no clear heritage and no clear future. Because the FDA does not require safety evaluations of GMOs, gallery visitors consider the implications about the future consequences of this uncertain technology at both an informative and entertaining level while the remote controlled Monsantra roams the galleries at their feet.

Additional Information from the Artists:
As consumers we no longer know the real price of our food. Our food distribution systems are so muddled and complex that it is unrealistic to ask consumers to make responsible choices based on the knowledge at hand. To get people to think about their food, where it comes from and where it may be going, we take our remote control, or robotic plants to the streets. The goal is to get people to question the food they eat and how it got there in an entertaining and artistic way.  Having an out of gallery art experience is often more memorable and can speak to a much wider audience. Our street tactics bring art and education into a community despite the level of support for healthy food or art culture in that particular location. By taking our form of cross breeding into the street, we create situations where these technologies affect how we think about our food culture. In the first phase of the project we germinated and grew GM plants hydroponically onto robotic substrates. Once mature, we release these hybrids into public spaces to have direct interactions with the community.

These interventions were then documented in video format to later be exhibited in the controlled environment of the gallery space. Joining this video documentation, the final stage will allow for gallery audience to directly experience and interact with our creatures by handing over the robotic controls to the viewers. The levity of the hybrid Monsantras and the accompanying interactive elements underscore community and foster discussions about the future consequences of this uncertain technology at both informative and entertaining level.

Click here for more information on Monsantra.