Agro-Terrorism
Teosinte on Tumbleweed, 2019
Teosinte on Tumbleweed, 2019
(Specific) Location: Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico
Item Name: Teosinte pre-smuggling
Description/Materials: Zea Mexicana seeds aka Teosinte
Date Collected: March 2018
Name of Contributor/Author: Robert Ungar and Won Cha
_______________________________________
A staple crop that supported many generations for centuries, corn was a foundation of Mexican culture. Though Mexico had over 59 known indigenous varieties of corn, they were also the top importer of American corn. The US state of Iowa alone produced up to three times as much corn per year as Mexico. By 2019, over 90 percent of the corn produced in the US was grown from genetically modified organism or “GMO” seeds owned and sold by the company Monsanto. Monsanto also had an aggressive program to expand its operations by buying the most fertile land in Mexico, threatening Mexico’s agricultural autonomy and endangering corn biodiversity.
After the events of September 11th, 2001, The Department of Homeland Security, in cooperation with other federal agencies, developed a “threat matrix,” an extensive, covert infrastructure meant to anticipate and respond to any potential threats to the United States. This included the threat of what it called “Agro-terror,” or attempts to disrupt or destroy a country’s agricultural industry and/or food supply system through the use of biological agents against plants or animals. Though there were no official documented cases of agro-terrorism originating from the US-Mexico border, artist Won Cha and urban designer Rob Ungar sought to question the status of Monsanto’s business practices, and the US government’s label of “agro-terrorism,” by engaging in their own activity using a different biological agent.
Teosinte, an ancient grain native to Mexico, was an ancestor to what came to be called corn. The Teosinte seed is able to stay dormant for extended periods of time. Before it bares its seeds, the Teosinte plant looks identical to the corn plant. Because of its genetic similarities, Teosinte has the ability to cross with GMO corn, creating a hybrid plant. Mexican farmers often mixed Teosinte in their corn fields to strengthen their crops against pests. Teosinte-GMO hybrids embody the cultural, historical, social flux that had always existed within sister cities along the US-Mexico border. Entwined in the branches of tumbleweed, the seeds displayed here could conceivably have been smuggled across the border merely by the force of wind.
Item Name: Teosinte pre-smuggling
Description/Materials: Zea Mexicana seeds aka Teosinte
Date Collected: March 2018
Name of Contributor/Author: Robert Ungar and Won Cha
_______________________________________
A staple crop that supported many generations for centuries, corn was a foundation of Mexican culture. Though Mexico had over 59 known indigenous varieties of corn, they were also the top importer of American corn. The US state of Iowa alone produced up to three times as much corn per year as Mexico. By 2019, over 90 percent of the corn produced in the US was grown from genetically modified organism or “GMO” seeds owned and sold by the company Monsanto. Monsanto also had an aggressive program to expand its operations by buying the most fertile land in Mexico, threatening Mexico’s agricultural autonomy and endangering corn biodiversity.
After the events of September 11th, 2001, The Department of Homeland Security, in cooperation with other federal agencies, developed a “threat matrix,” an extensive, covert infrastructure meant to anticipate and respond to any potential threats to the United States. This included the threat of what it called “Agro-terror,” or attempts to disrupt or destroy a country’s agricultural industry and/or food supply system through the use of biological agents against plants or animals. Though there were no official documented cases of agro-terrorism originating from the US-Mexico border, artist Won Cha and urban designer Rob Ungar sought to question the status of Monsanto’s business practices, and the US government’s label of “agro-terrorism,” by engaging in their own activity using a different biological agent.
Teosinte, an ancient grain native to Mexico, was an ancestor to what came to be called corn. The Teosinte seed is able to stay dormant for extended periods of time. Before it bares its seeds, the Teosinte plant looks identical to the corn plant. Because of its genetic similarities, Teosinte has the ability to cross with GMO corn, creating a hybrid plant. Mexican farmers often mixed Teosinte in their corn fields to strengthen their crops against pests. Teosinte-GMO hybrids embody the cultural, historical, social flux that had always existed within sister cities along the US-Mexico border. Entwined in the branches of tumbleweed, the seeds displayed here could conceivably have been smuggled across the border merely by the force of wind.
Teosinte on Tumbleweed, 2018
(Specific) Location: Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico
Item Name: Teosinte pre-smuggling
Description/Materials: Zea Mexicana seeds aka Teosinte
Date Collected: March 2018
Name of Contributor/Author: Robert Ungar and Won Cha
Item Name: Teosinte pre-smuggling
Description/Materials: Zea Mexicana seeds aka Teosinte
Date Collected: March 2018
Name of Contributor/Author: Robert Ungar and Won Cha
