Our Invisible Hands shows the impact of temporary labour on the agricultural sector

What is the impact of temporary labour on the agricultural sector? What is the place of the working man in the countryside? That was what the Seasonal Neighbours collective investigated. Each artist worked as a seasonal worker. Their personal experiences grew into Our Invisible Hands, an artistic project about living together in the European countryside and the dependency on the seasons.

Every summer, millions of seasonal labourers from southern and eastern Europe travel west to work in local fields and greenhouses. Their much-needed participation in the harvest contributes to the rich agricultural economy that feeds all of Europe and beyond. The corona crisis and its temporary halt to this annual migration flow caused huge concerns for farmers (and consumers) who depend on this seasonal labour. The vulnerability of the system suddenly became clear. The media echoed a call for local helpers (mostly those temporarily unable to carry out their work due to the crisis) to come and help with the harvest. Seasonal Neighbours gathered 16 artists, writers, architects, filmmakers and designers who saw an opportunity in this: to work temporarily as a labourer, and then to use this personal experience to map out and challenge the state of affairs by realising cultural projects in these rural contexts.

More info via the Seasonal Neighbours website.

Participating artists: Anastasia Eggers, Pia Jacques de Dixmude, Collectif dallas, Karolina Michalik, Claire Chassot, Ines Marita Schärer & Caroline Profanter, Jonathan De Maeyer, Ciel Grommen & Maximiliaan Royakkers, Mona Thijs, Yacinth Pos, Ioana Lupascu

Curators: Ils Huygens and Annelies Thoelen

Our Invisible Hands runs from 30.01 to 17.04 in Z33

With the support of the Flemish Government, Vocatio Fund, the Stimuleringsfonds Creatieve Industrie NL and many crowdfunders.