FÄLTVANDRING/hur griper jag mig an min plats på jorden?
The Cultivation is a process-based work by Gunnel Pettersson that has moved between different locations and borrowed lands since 2007. The driving force is the experience of walking through a blooming field of the herb buckwheat. Asking questions about the agricultural landscape, developing a dialogue with various stakeholders, and practicing cultivation has become a way of life and a means to experiment with utopia – a cultivated landscape with greater biodiversity.

At Kivik Art Centre 2024, the title is FÄLTVANDRING/hur griper jag mig an min plats på jorden. It is possible to follow the cultivation process on site in the field. Visitors are welcome to participate in various interventions and activities, from sowing to harvest. Activities that depend on the weather and the development of the crops will be announced on our social media channels.

Buckwheat is currently on the rise in culinary arts, but in agriculture, changes are slow. What reaches the consumer is therefore imported. When agriculture scaled up production to meet the needs of a growing population, the diversity of crops also disappeared. The humble buckwheat, known as “the poor man’s grain,” which was grown on the leanest soils, was abandoned in favor of rye and wheat, which are more highly valued in Swedish food culture.

Buckwheat is an herb with white flowers, heart-shaped leaves and a red stem, related to rhubarb and sorrel, and originates from southwestern China. In Linnaeus’s 1749 survey of Skåne, it is noted that buckwheat was an important crop, especially in eastern Skåne. It is a staple in other food cultures around the world, used in galettes, blinis, soba noodles, or as roasted whole grains, for example in Ukraine and Poland. Buckwheat is gluten-free, a good source of minerals, rich in several B vitamins, and contains all eight essential amino acids.