Conceived and developed by the artist Antje Schiffers and the curator Katalin Erdődi, “I like being a farmer, and I would like to stay one” focuses on the post-socialist rural condition and the socio-political, economic, and cultural transformation of the countryside in the past 25-30 years, from the vantage points of three farmers coming from different regions and working in different areas of agriculture in Hungary.
The project’s starting point is a barter trade to farmers: a painting that the artist (Antje Schiffers) makes of their farmstead, in exchange for a film that the farmers shoot about how they live and work. This barter frames the exchange between the artist and the farmers during the one week that they spend together. Antje Schiffers invites the farmers to co-create the still and moving images of their everydays: to look together for the most beautiful subjects or vantage points for the paintings, and in turn, to depict themselves, share their perspectives and experiences in the films. The farmers work on the video footage, challenging the aesthetics, media and tools that define current trends of contemporary art practices.
After being edited by the artist, the farmers’ films will premiere not only in the villages where they live, but also in Budapest, as part of an exhibition documenting the project and a public program at Ludwig Musem, that will also include a talk with the collaborating farmers.
