Anybody interested in issues related to farming will want to check out Calgary artist Alex Moon’s new exhibit at the University of Lethbridge art gallery.

Cereal Gen opens with the opening reception  in the Main Gallery, Sept. 15 at 4-p.m. and will be running until Oct. 24.
 There are two parts to the exhibition, which is part of  the gallery’s food themed series

 Half of the  exhibition is based around a 17-minute long short film created by Calgary artist Alex Moon about a farmer who works for a big grain company called Uni-Farm and becomes disillusioned by the corporatization of the family farm, replacing the pastoral tradition of the lifestyle.

“ It deals with large scale grain corporations like Monsanto. It’s about food security and monoculture,”  summarized Moon, whose grandparents used to farm.

“  It (the title) represents Uni minus the farm,” Moon said of avoiding trouble with big grain companies corporate lawyers.

“He (the main character) is essentially a company man,” he said adding he has an epiphany about what the company is doing, but doesn’t want to make waves.

 

“He doesn’t want to be that guy leading the riot on TV,”  said Moon, who has a BFA from the Alberta College of Design.

 The exhibit features a lab, as well as various items from the film including a tractor created out of a Mac 2ci computer, pulling a printer instead of a seeder.
“It’s because they’re planting paper instead of grain,” he said.

The film is only the first part of a three part series. Moon is seeking funding  for the other  two, but observed the first film ends on a suitable cliffhanging note.
 In the Helen Christou Gallery, there are numerous silkscreens Moon created featuring old fashioned grain elevators.

 The other half of the exhibition, by Edmonton artist , Lyndal Osborne, takes direct aim at genetically modified crops by featuring gigantic seed cells hooked up to machines feeding them chemicals.
“It looks like a scene from a science fiction film,” observed curator Josephine Mills.

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