In the small universe of common sense, the territorial identities of modernity appear to us as the natural genealogy of habit. From the train window, contemporary land management appears to us as the drawing of cartographic fantasy with the plough or the tractor. It also come as the image of the nation state on the borders of the agriculture of the Green Revolution at the end of the 19th century, which is itself the concave reflection of the landscape of factories and labourers, of men devoured by the machinery of capital, and of women chained to perpetual reproduction in the home. The agricultural land as the sphere in which the relationship with nature, domesticated since the Neolithic revolution, is depersonalised —does this matter in the time of the olive tree? A vision of parallel lines and a hut for tools with a roof made of asbestos. Those who live on the edge of this urban world want to break up the immanence of agricultural property, its boundaries, its uses. The land functions as desire and longing. At the field-worker dwelling, spaces of life after piecework, they read, in hushed tones, political manifestos and newspapers that speak of struggles in other countries with parallel lines and asbestos roofs. The farm, again as a metaphor for the world system. Sow what the market demands. There is no room for negotiation and no room for profit in the hands of the labourers. The roads do not go round the hillside to cross stones, trees or streams, but uphill or downhill, square and rectangular. The Europe of the Enlightenment and the sugar beet, which fought the British cane sugar monopoly. Trees and stones were cleared from the hills to turn them into farmland. Post-war Europe and the European Common Agricultural Policy. The Roma as day labourers for large landowners and small farmers. Agricultural reforms for more social justice in the years from 1807 to 1980. The troubled order behind the day labourers; one fight for the pleasure of the fantasy of paradise. Cotton, wheat and sugar beet. How to work your conquered land even though you know it doesn’t belong to you.The new bank debts of the large Roma family at the end of the 20th century led to them losing the land again. The land burns, the bodies rot from cancer due to the use of countless pesticides. The concentration of land in the hands of a few drives Roma families into exile in other countries of the West. The fever of the red fruits. Moroccans, Blacks, Roma, Ukrainians: the far west of Europe strawberries. There is a background of flamenco resonances that invents a tradition that works to break the boundaries of territory. We sing what we don’t have. There are no carts, no caravans, no streams or birds. How to paint this sad story?
Miguel Ángel Vargas Rubio, Sevilla
The ‘No a las máquinas.’ – in the title of the exhibition is taken from a graffiti in curator Miguel Angel Vargas Rubio’s home town. Lebrija, not far from Seville in the Andalusian countryside characterised by industrial agriculture, is a centre of the Spanish Gitanos who have lived there for many hundreds of years. Their lives have been shaped above all by the changes in agriculture, from land ownership and industrialisation to the massive ecological difficulties of the Andalusia region and the climate crisis of our time.
Starting from the text of Miguel Angel Vargas Rubio No a las máquinas. The Romani visions of apocalyptic agriculture. unites artistic perspectives on this situation: can the tradition of the Sinti and Roma, which tells of a sustainable approach to the environment, not only show the grievances but also ways out of the crisis? The exhibition shows works by David Weiss, who is not only an artist but also an agro-ecologist, the British artist Dan Turner, the artists Helios Gómez (1905-1956) and Manlao Gómez, who like Miguel Angel Vargas Rubio also come from Andalusia, and the French artist Marina Rosselle.
Curators: Miguel Ángel Vargas Rubio & Moritz Pankok
Opening by Helena Cosano, Counsellor for Culture and Science at the Embassy of Spain.
This exhibition has been made possible with the generous support of the Embassy of Spain.
OPENING: June 20, 2025 – 6:00 PM
DURATION: June 14 – October 30, 2025
VENUE: Kai Dikhas Foundation and Dikhas Dur Art Space, Aufbau Haus am Moritzplatz, Prinzenstr. 84, 10969 Berlin
