Field Exchange 2022
The first edition of Field Exchange took place between June and September 2022 and was presented on Brookfield Farm on the shores of Lough Derg, Co Tipperary by farmer and climate ambassador Ailbhe Gerrard.
Field Exchange engaged vision, knowledge and practical action to come together to solve our urgent challenges in agriculture, biodiversity and climate.
The Field Exchange Programme launched on the Summer Solstice, June 21st 2022 and was followed by twelve weeks of public open days + Exchanges.
12 Exchange days provided farmers, food producers, artists, experts and the interested public space, time and community to collaborate.
The event series culminated in a Final Gathering and Harvest Feast on September 16, 2022.
Field Exchange was proud to be a recipient of the inaugural Creative Climate Action fund, an initiative from the Creative Ireland Programme in collaboration with the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications that supports creative, cultural and artistic projects that build awareness around climate change and empower citizens to make meaningful behavioural transformations
About Field Exchange Artworks:
An exchange programme of creative agricultural topics was facilitated on the farm and was further contextualised and amplified by artists and their artwork.
Field Exchange presented two art works by artists:
- Artist John Gerrard contributed a unique presentation of his simulation titled Corn Work (Corrib). John Gerrard’s intimate iteration of Corn Work (Corrib) were presented upon a sculptural Exchange Table in beech and steel custom designed by the artist in dialogue with Elements of Action as part of Field Exchange. In Corn Work (Corrib) four local folk figures, the Straw Boys, remade virtually, perform a symbolic wheel of production. Changing with the seasons, each character walks a quarter wheel, turns across one spoke, emerges and walks another quarter, in time performing a synchronised solar wheel through day and night across the year. They dance alongside and in dialogue with the strong flow of the River Corrib which once provided energy for the city’s many dismantled flour mills.
- Deirdre O’Mahony’s Model Plot with the Loy Association of Ireland on Brookfield Farm on the shores of Lough Derg.
Exchange Day Insights:
Every week for 12 weeks, Brookfield Farm hosted an Exchange to share expertise and knowhow on: soil fertility; trees on farms; welcoming all to agriculture and more. The project welcomed 30 farmers, food producers, experts, interested public and artists coming together each week to address selected topics at exchange tables on Brookfield Farm, facilitated by NOTS.ie (Organic Agriculture Training).
A diverse mix of participants from farming and the arts, as well as members of the general public, came together to engage with experts and practitioners from different fields of sustainable agriculture. In this phase of the festival, 21 experts delivered various exchange topics to a total of 240 participants, resulting in meaningful discussions and insights.
Explore the sustainable farming practices, ideas and insights we have been sharing during our previous Exchange Days.
To view all exchanges, view our Field Exchange 2022 Learning Resource, click on images below
