Edible Art & Social Justice: This NYC Exhibit Is More Than Meets The Eye

This summer sustainable art takes center stage as part of Antwaun Sargent’s exhibition, Social Works, at Gagosian. According to Gagosian, “Social Works considers the relationship between space—personal, public, institutional, and psychic—and Black social practice.” It’s a group exhibition of socially conscious, thought-provoking work from Black artists from disparate cultural, social, and artistic backgrounds. 

Among the featured art is Are we really that different?, an interactive farm installation by Linda Goode Bryant in collaboration with design studio Diller Scofidio + Renfro. Goode Bryant is an artist and activist whose work spans various mediums and subjects. This particular piece combines her work in urban farming through the nonprofit Project EATS with her background as a documentary filmmaker and gallery director.

Are we really that different? is a striking take on urban farming. While the entire concept of urban farming is based on the idea that agriculture can be possible anywhere, it’s hard to imagine a productive form of agriculture in a Midtown gallery. Yet still, Are we really that different? shows the miraculous and innovative nature of this practice.

The installation is complete with IV bags pumping in water and nutrients to the plants as if they were on life support. And in a sense, they are. Many plants would struggle to grow in the climate-controlled conditions of an art gallery. But with a mixture of water and nutrients from the IV, as well as natural light from the gallery’s skylight, these plants thrive.

Interestingly, the plants grown in Are we really that different? are completely edible. They’re harvested every single day so that visitors can actually taste the art. This extra layer makes the exhibit even more engaging and memorable. It also showcases the practical side of urban agriculture, something that Goode Bryant knows about from her time with Project Eats.

In addition to the urban farm, you can watch a documentary of footage from Goode Bryant’s Just Above Midtown gallery. The gallery was a home to Black artists in New York City during the ‘70s and ‘80s at a time when Black art was largely ignored. The documentary begs the titural question “are we really that different?” or, has society really progressed that much in the past 50 years?

The title of the exhibit also refers to the farm, but here it takes on a slightly different meaning. Are humans that different from plants growing in inhospitable environments? Aren’t we just participating in the same system? 

You can view this thought-provoking exhibit at Gagosian in Manhattan through September 11th.