The text below is from my proposal which was sent to the MERL staff in early 2026.
Performance: Emptying of Animal Feed Bag
Jan 2026
Have you ever emptied a bag of animal feed? Bags can weigh anything from 20 to 50 kilos. They are not light and depending on the type of feed and size of hole cut into the bag they can take a while to empty out. Like a sand-timer. The mundane activity of emptying a feed bag is durational and requires physical exertion but performs a crucial function in a rural environment where animals are concerned. The feed from the bags can be emptied into buckets, wheel barrow(s), or directly into feed troughs. It is a mundane unglamorous job but is part of a larger local/national/international process of farming which provides food products (meat/milk/eggs etc..) for our plates.
This proposal is for a bag of animal feed to be emptied in to a wheel barrow. I currently have two suggestions:
1. The activity of emptying a feed bag could take place in the museum and be videoed and presented in the gallery space on a timed loop.
2. Alternatively the carrying and emptying of a feed bag could take place in the grass area at the back of the museum where the space could be used for different activities like emptying the feed bag, filling the feed bag, moving the feed bag around the grass area. This could involve more than one person, since the process of animal feed production and distribution involves different agencies/companies and ultimately farms. Again, the process could be filmed and edited into a looped video for the gallery area.
March 2026
The MERL staff were happy to have me do the activity in the museum space. I chose a room with a wooden wheel barrow and a life-size wicker horse and favourable space and lighting.
Below are some stills from the video, in case there are problems with viewing the video above.
June 2026
On the 8th June 2026 the MERL had a 'Student Showcase' of the work presented by the Museum Studies students and of the MA Fine Art students. I performed the emptying of a feed bag in the same museum space as previously. Approximately 50 people witnessed the performance. The video below was taken by Birhanu Menter (MA Fine Art student).
Below are some stills from the video, in case there are problems with viewing the video above.
