Installation view of 《My Farmers Dictionary》 © Blume Museum of Contemporary Art

From May 18 to November 17, Blume Museum of Contemporary Art presents the exhibition 《My Farmers Dictionary》. Focusing on the intangible values condensed in the labor and thinking of farmers as both food producers and value producers, the exhibition presents eleven works—drawings, videos, and installations—by four teams of farmers and contemporary artists. Here, the term “farmer” refers not to large-scale or conventional farmers driven by industrialized mass production, but to small-scale farmers who pursue alternative forms of agriculture.

Drawing from the stories of diverse small farmers whose work and thinking cannot be reduced solely to agricultural production, the exhibition identifies four key values. These include living a life that explores nature with the attitude of a researcher; choosing farming not merely as an occupation but as a way of life that follows the rhythms of nature; embracing community-oriented values centered on coexistence; and participating in efforts to address the climate crisis. The exhibition interprets the contemporary significance of these values, cultivated by small farmers, through the perspectives of contemporary artists.

Installation view of 《My Farmers Dictionary》 © Blume Museum of Contemporary Art

The fact that 95% of people who do not farm depend on the 5% who do extends beyond the act of sustenance, encompassing attitudes and perspectives that support life itself.

Created through collaborations between farmers from Chanumul Farm in Goyang, Gyeonggi-do; Jonghapjaemi Farm in Yangpyeong; Mwoha Farm in Goesan, Chungcheongbuk-do; and Geuraedo Farm in Yeongwol, Gangwon-do, along with four contemporary artists, this exhibition suggests that anyone can lead a “farmer-like life,” even without farming.

For those seeking new lifestyles beyond their current ways of living, farmers present alternative values and inspire action. Through 《My Farmers Dictionary》, Blume Museum of Contemporary Art aims to uncover the cultural value of understanding and empathizing with the connection between the lives of farmers and our own within the vast cycle of nature.

Furthermore, the exhibition proposes that such understanding can foster loose forms of solidarity among those searching for shifts in thinking and alternative ways of living in the age of the climate crisis.

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