AL GRANO: Framing Worlds

AL GRANO: Framing Worlds
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AL GRANO: Framing Worlds
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AL GRANO: Hack
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AL GRANO: Injection-Infection
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Al GRANO: Crop-Cropping
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AL GRANO: Framing Worlds deploys a staging of fact and ction where various registers of images, texts and objects, coexist. These digitally produced 2D and 3D pieces have as common element the manipulation of languages, histories and codes (the latter pointing to the underlying structure of genetic systems).

AL GRANO: Hack -- A re-codication process accentuating the position of Mesoamerican indigenous communities is brought about in a series of graphics in the shape of Mayan Glyphs that showcase the 'front end' of digital images of GM corn whose ‘back end’ codes have been hacked with the infusion of texts from the seminal 1930’s Latin American novel “Men of Maize” written by Guatemalan Nobel prize winner Miguel Angel Asturias.

Al GRANO: Crop-Cropping -- This is an interactive piece with a pictographic interface bearing the same Maya glyphs used in the previous piece – but devoid of all color. Its austere black and white presentation showcases the back end hacked code that result in the lip smacking GM corn glitch images in “AL GRANO: Hack.” By tapping, swiping, pinching and zooming on the Maya glyphs, the user engages in a game of deciphering meaning through ASCII and hexadecimal computer languages mixed with texts in the western syllabic language. These texts, extracted from the novel Men of Maize, highlight the plight of indigenous Mayan people in defense of maize culture.

AL GRANO: Injection-Infection -- Focusing on food safety concerns and the deception of a better world behind bioproducts, this third installation piece is composed of 3D models extruded from polylactic acid, a corn-based resin. Encased in glass domes, the 3D prints show the structural formula of fructose, amylase, and polylactic acid (PLA), constituents produced by fermentation from raw cornstarch sourced in many cases from transgenic corn used in an inordinate number of processed bioproducts including foodstus in the USA. The very high demand for these products has required expansive agro-industrial production of bioengineered corn in the USA and across borders, and in 2001, local landraces in Mexico were contaminated due to in situ tests of GM corn cultivation conducted by multinational biotechnology corporations. The risks of reducing biodiversity associated with gene flow that infects and alters native maize varieties moreover negatively impacts indigenous populations in their ability to sustain their livelihood, their agriculture and their culture, hence repeating the decades-old story of exploitation told in the novel Men of Maize – a story persistently referenced in AL GRANO: Framing worlds.

Pat Badani