The Harvest Festival / atristic action

Harvest finished, the crop is harvested – it’s time for celebration.

September is a harvest festival in the villages near Opole. This is the time when field owners not only harvest but also show incredible creativity, creating stunning installations from the fruits of their crops (hay, straw, grain). Puppets, tractors, patterns from corn, or animals made from sheaves – it is the sign that harvest time begins. Although the so-called city people most often have no idea what is happening in the periphery and outside the city of Opole, it is worth noting that this custom is still alive in our agricultural region.

Passing through flat open spaces of the cornfields, among which there are Opole villages, we can see how ancient rituals mix with today’s way of celebrating. However, it is worth looking more closely at the genesis of the harvest festival and pay attention to its „magical” character, giving the participants success, fertility, and prestige.

During the First Harvest Festival in Krapkowice „Public House”, a performance was held referring to the ancient cult of fertility and contemporary consumption. The props that I used were BIO vegetables from the supermarket, each packed in a separate foil or net.

After working with the vegetables used in the performance, together with the audience, I cooked the soup and fried fries. None of the vegetables have been wasted. Guests could taste the wonderful Prestige drink, the recipe of which was developed by Natalia Krawczyk – the hostess of this amazing event.

The performance was accompanied by video found footage (links to original videos on the youtube site https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nOPLtIlz-A
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-rIPbDfUkI) The motif taken from the Lidl advertisement was used as the musical background.