Grow Finish Unit (Eva, Oklahoma), 2008
'Grow Finish Unit (Eva, Oklahoma) 2008' is a detailed representation of an unmanned pig production site near to Boise City, Oklahoma, USA. It completes a sequence of works that includes Animated Scene (Oil Field) 2007 and Dust Storm (Dalhart, Texas) 2007.
The work documents the extremes of functionality to be found at the start of the industrialised food production chain. It is also significant in the light of recent works that the pigs are exclusively raised on corn which is in turn grown using nitrogen derived from oil and gas, thus rendering the occupants of these sheds, in essence, oil derived pigs. References to minimalist sculpture through to the photography of Bernd and Hilla Becher can also be identified within the work.
Behind the eight sheds that are the focus of the work lies a large effluent lake which is surprisingly beautiful as it reflects the sky. An autonomous virtual wind animates the surface dust in an ongoing and open way, creating the principal movements in the piece. In a symbolic moment of exchange within the work, reflecting the growth cycle of the pigs enclosed there, a single transport truck pulls to each building every 6-8 months and waits for 1 hour. At no point are the many thousands of occupants of the eight sheds visible, as this is the case in reality.
As in other works, the public use the frame attached to a physical sculpture to navigate a large arc around the scene. Grow / Finish Unit (Eva, Oklahoma) 2008 unfolds in realtime over the 365 days of the year and light conditions through dawn and dusk match that of the local site.
Production: Werner Poetzelberger. Modelling: Daniel Fellsner. Programming: Helmut Bressler. Presentation design / Corian fabrication: Jakob Illera / Inseq, Vienna.
