Kirsten Twelbeck

I am working on a ‘narrative of substances’ focusing on wheat, a cultivated plant that is genetically more complex than any other crop, and burdened with cultural implications. Introduced to the ‘New World’ by European colonists, wheat has since travelled to all parts of the globe, changing not only markets but also landscapes, social and political power relations, eating habits as well as cultural values, norms, and narratives. Interdisciplinary and transnational in scope, the project brings together material and aesthetic aspects of wheat and asks about the crop’s changed cultural meaning(s) in an age of big-scale agriculture. As in most of my work, I am particularly interested in aspects of power, inter-cultural interaction, and gender – but also in modes of representation and aesthetic effect.

Contact: twelbeck.idk@wzu.uni-augsburg.de