On Friday, 25 October, at 7 pm, artist Klara Hobza will present her book "On Slaughter" in our shop, and will talk about self-sufficiency, food ethics and the cycles of life.
Admission is free! Language is english.
Klara Hobza's book, published by Mark Pezinger, aims to expand the traditions of survival books and field guides. Employing visual methods of nature study and anatomy drawing, Hobza infuses the how-to-format with the subjective and emotional experience, which she understands to be equally as important to survival as our objective, practical skills.
The artist - who accompanied self-sufficient farmer Markus in remote Sweden - highlights the inherent severity of the slaughter, while simultaneously allowing the process to be viewed with ardent curiosity and fascination. The artist will go into further depth around her artistic reasons for making On Slaughter and invite the audience to discuss the complex ethical questions raised by this project.
About the Book
For her second artist book, “On Slaughter”, Klara Hobza accompanies Markus, a farmer in the remote forests of Sweden, as he slaughters two sheep. In long conversations, Markus provides insight into his personal experiences, skills, and knowledge from a life dedicated to living with and off the land. He reflects upon memories of what he learned from stubborn old farmers and people in the Siberian wilderness. The first impression of the book is undoubtedly gained from the table of contents: The land; Bench; Knives; Sharpening; Whisk; Before we start; The killing; The skinning; The organs; Usage of intestines; The Slaughter will be finished now; Glue; Meat; […].
However, this book goes beyond an objective teaching on how to slaughter step-by-step. We learn of Markus' individual approach to farming, his keeping of animals—including the act of slaughter—as being an inherent part of a healthy ecosystem.
Today, we often lack knowledge or understanding of the act of animal slaughter. Industrial meat production is compartmentalized, and its products are detached from the killing process. By tapping into the traditions of the artistic genre of nature study and anatomy drawing, Klara Hobza highlights the inherent severity of the slaughter, while simultaneously allowing the process to be viewed with ardent curiosity and fascination.
About Klara Hobza
Klara Hobza’s practice incorporates performance, video, drawing and sculpture and is conceptually held together by narrations of self-imposed endeavours. In her multilayered artworks, Klara Hobza captures natural matters in analytic and often also humorous ways, while maintaining an underlying thread connecting a sense of discovery, playfulness and wonder.
