Avena + Test Bed — Agricultural Printing and Altered Landscapes
Unterwaldhausen
Benedikt Groß
designer, Stuttgart
A printed field to cultivate biodiversity
Agriculture in developed countries, as well as being highly mechanised, is increasingly robotised, with tractors steered remotely using GPS systems. With this in mind, designer Benedikt Groß has invented a system that makes it possible to print patterns in fields using a selection of seeds. Still connected to GPS, the tractor and seed drill “scan” the field like a printer head, following a digitally defined path.
This is first and foremost a project concerning European policies that reduce agriculture to mere statistics. As well as its aesthetic effect, this technology would make it possible to develop the principle of mutually beneficial fences—a kind of metaphor for diversity that runs counter to the current trend for mono-specific crops.
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photographies : © Florian Vögtle
