When is a Trojan horse not a Trojan horse?

The exhibition This is Not a Trojan Horse by Fine Arts visiting faculty member (and founder of the artists’ collective Futurefarmers) Amy Franceschini and writer Michael Taussig, a professor of anthropology at the European Graduate School, earned them the first Artists | Writers | Environments award (the A|W|E Grant) as well as a $10,000 award.

Visit the Futurefarmers website »

What Is It?

This is Not a Trojan Horse, which runs through March 11, is a large-scale, mobile architecture and interactive sculpture (literally a large, human-powered, wooden horse) that encourages working Italian farmers to explain why they still embrace their chosen vocations. The project was inspired by Epios: A Sculptor (2008), written by Cooley Windsor, in which Windsor tells the story of the Trojan Horse through the architect appointed by Agamemnon.

Franceschini and Taussig were among five finalists. Their project is exhibited in the CA+E Gallery, a 450-square-foot exhibition space within the Nevada Museum of Art, which addresses themes of human transformation to the natural and urban environment. (See also "CCA Faculty and Visiting Artists Dominate Exhibitions at Nevada Museum of Art")

According to the Nevada Museum of Art website: "The project was designed as a vehicle for social and material exchange at a pivotal moment in the Abruzzo region [the project was built at Pollinaria in Abruzzo, Italy], when modes of traditional agricultural production are being challenged by large-scale corporate farming trends as well as new sustainable directions."

The project was initially created by Futurefarmers: Amy Franceschini, Stijn Schiffeleers + Lode Vranken, and in collaboration with Pollinaria.

About the A|W|E Grant

The A|W|E Grant serves to recognize visual artists and writers who work together in the field. The award is administered by the Center for Art + Environment (CA+E), an internationally recognized research center that supports the practice, study, and awareness of creative interactions between people and their natural, built, and virtual environments. The grant is funded by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.

About Futurefarmers

Futurefarmers is a group of artists, designers, and architects who use various media to create work that responds to the time and place around them. A constant throughout their work is a concern and critique of systems of capital and their effects on the material and social environment. They deconstruct food policies, public transportation, and rural farming networks to visualize and understand their intrinsic logics. Read more »