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In ancient harvest rituals, farmers would gather the final stalks of wheat left standing in the fields. Cut and woven into symbolic forms, these sheaves embodied the spirit of the harvest kept safe over winter. Come spring, the old seeds were mixed into the new planting, returning the good spirits to the land. As fields were sown with grain, so too were they marked by conflict. The installation Perpetual Harvest by Anca Benera (born 1977 in Constanța, Romania) and Arnold Estefán (born 1978 in Târgu Secuiesc, Romania; both are currently based in Vienna and Bucharest) comprises a series of ballistic missiles made from straw, reflecting on the weaponization of food and the entrenchment of global militarization. The work draws on both the recent Black Sea grain blockade (2022) and early European peasant uprisings, such as the Bobâlna Revolt (1437) and the Dózsa Rebellion (1514) in Transylvania, when agricultural tools like scythes and pitchforks were turned into makeshift weapons. The installation poses a pressing question: How can a perpetual state of crisis – be it military, climatic or economic – give rise to social change?
Perpetual Harvest, Anca Benera & Arnold Estefán
Installation, 2023–Ongoing