Ars Foyer Program

Open Stage

Former Farmland

08.09. | 14:00 - 15:00

Brucknerhaus

Wapke Feenstra

As farmland is a part of everyone’s cultural heritage, Wapke Feenstra decided to unearth some stories about Former Farmland in Linz, and set out a tour through two former villages, Steg and Dornach. Daily guided tours or a visit to the Former Farmland market stall at Pfarrplatz will give you insights into the project and this area of Linz. Former Farmland dovetails with Feenstra’s projects on art and the rural environment carried out in the past with the myvillages.org artists association. The founders of myvillages all grew up in rural farming communities. During the open stage myvillages.org will offer the audience a one hour shop in International Rural Trade. We will show horsemilksoap, frogbutterspoons and other trade from our villages.
During the talk, Feenstra will walk her audience through some of the grounds that Former Farmland is based on. The project is therefore placed in the frame of thinking about our culture and the history of art.
`There you stand with your mobile in your hand, in connection with the whole world, but on former farmland.`
Former Farmland focuses on the knowledge about the ground beneath your feet.
When farmland is used as a site for new building projects or urban leisure areas, the farmer gets a good price for the land. The farmer then moves on. But what the farmer takes away is not just the memory of a piece of land that is about to be re-developed – he takes a wealth of knowledge about the soil he has worked on for generations. This knowledge has no value anymore. The land is designated for other purposes and the personal stories about the influence of the water and soil on the harvest are no longer relevant.
Former Farmland is online as a standard website but the stories and pictures can also be sent immediately to your mobile phone over a new technique called Otello. Dr. Martin Richartz of Vodafone Group Research & Development will demonstrate with the artist how this works. Bring in your mobile phone to this open stage. Former Farmland started at EXPO 08 in Saragossa within Overtures 3 by artcircolo, and more former farmland will be explored in the coming years. Wapke Feenstra lives and works in Rotterdam. She did a post-graduate in art at the Jan van Eyck Academy and is a co-founder of myvillages.org. Her work explores the direct physical and mental environment by tapping into local knowledge.