(Agri)cultural Beast

The rural landscapes of Switzerland, with their picturesque yellow-flowering hills and the distant sounds of cowbells, are often perceived as idyllic. However, Yasmin Knüsel's sculpture of a monstrously oversized dandelion with a cowbell growing into its roots symbolizes that this romanticized perception obscures the violent and destructive core of the agricultural system, which has created an environment for a select few to thrive. Within this system, the adaptable roots of the dandelion have come to thrive in nitrogen-rich, compacted soil, overtaking meadows and diminishing biodiversity. Having grown up in such an environment, Knüsel’s project is based on auto-ethnographic and socio-economic research into the violent complexities endured by plants, animals and farmers alike.