Andrea Büttner · BY ASSOCIATION

Andrea Büttner:
Asparagus Harvest
05/10 – 18/02/2024

Hollybush Gardens and Jan Mot are delighted to present Asparagus Harvest, a selection of etchings by Andrea Büttner. The series is part of a wider group of works realised by the artist in 2020 and 2021, representing various impressions of the white asparagus harvest, from the bending movement of the workers to details that echo their refined handiwork.

The project coincides with the publication of Andrea Büttner’s new monograph which accompanies her solo exhibitions The Heart of Relations at Kunstmuseum Basel (22/04 – 01/10/23) and No Fear, No Shame, No Confusion at K21, Düsseldorf. The latter will be presented from 28/10/23 until 18/02/24.

Andrea Büttner’s publication is now available on each gallery’s webshop.

“In the spring of 2020, Andrea Büttner began to observe and draw the white asparagus harvest in the countryside around Berlin. In classic plein-air style, she observed and sketched the workers during the physically demanding labour of harvest, which is mostly done by hand to this day. Cultivated in row upon row of long mounds of soil, protected from cold and sunlight with heavy plastic sheets, white asparagus grows entirely under the earth. Working with speed and precision, experienced harvesters first use two fingers to uncover the sensitive asparagus tips that peek out of the compact soil. They dig to uncover the shoots and snap the shaft from the root with an asparagus knife, about 20 cm below the surface. They then use a trowel to backfill and smooth the soil to allow new shoots to grow from the root, recovering the mound with plastic sheeting. These steps of labour, which are all carried out in a stooped position — with a straight back and slightly bent knees — are repeated meter by meter, row by row, for a period of 10 weeks, which is how long the harvest usually takes.

[…] Germany is not only the largest area of asparagus cultivation in Europe, asparagus also takes up the largest acreage of all vegetables cultivated in Germany. In the spring of 2020, following travel bans on seasonal workers due to the Coronavirus, the asparagus harvest became the linchpin of vehement discussions: news reports about asparagus farmers in danger of losing their harvests without seasonal workers from eastern Europe, contrasted with reports about the enhanced risk of infection for workers in cramped living conditions and the (already well-known) low wages and hard labour conditions. The asparagus harvest came to stand as an emblem for a critique of labour migration within Europe, and became an ethical issue—for who would continue eating German asparagus following these insights?”

(Patrizia Dander, excerpts from “Triebe”, written on the occasion of Büttner’s solo exhibition at Galerie Tschudi in 2021)

Installation view at Hollybush Gardens, 2021

Installation view at Jan Mot, 2022

Andrea Büttner
Asparagus Harvest, 2021
Etching on paper
70 x 100 cm
27.56 x 39.37 in
Edition 3 of 5 + 2 APs