Wheat Wisdom / Weizen Weisheit
wheat seeds, garden plot, garden tools, oven, baking tools
2008 — ongoing
The Wheat Wisdom project was initiated in 2008 for my MFA thesis in Public Art and New Artistic Strategies at the Bauhaus-University Weimar, Germany.
Wheat Wisdom consisted of baking bread from wheat that was grown and harvested in the garden at, and in collaboration with the residents of the local homeless shelter/government housing. This project is currently continuing into its third season. A second installation of Wheat Wisdom took place in 2008 on the Market Square in Weimar and in collaboration with the general public.
In Wheat Wisdom,␣wheat functions as a symbol for the fact that on a fundamental level we are all equal because no matter who you are, you must eat — a symbol of our shared humanity. Wheat is a good symbol of this because it is one of the first cultivated crops, a basic staple food, and a symbol of agriculture in general. The domestication of wheat brought in the move from hunter-gatherer societies to agricultural societies, which brought with it the division of labor and complex social hierarchy — the social hierarchy that I am questioning and challenging. I want to remind people that these social hierarchies are not inherent in us, but were invented with agricultural society. Social hierarchies are constructed.
Extensive writing and documentation is available in my master thesis, The Art of Community, downloadable at: www.jessehemminger.com/The_Art_of_Community.pdf
