Background: There is a rising detachment in agrifood systems as, especially in industrialized countries, the direct experience and contact with farmers is little and the gap between consumers and producers is high. Because of little knowledge about agriculture, there is an increased importance of second-hand sources like mass media communication about farming. Unfortunately, the stereotypic representation on the media with inherited values and pictures of family farming often distances groups further.

The goal: Challenging media perspective of farmers with several practical methods on public conferences and seminars. An innovative new approach to discovering power relations and problems derived from different cultural and social backgrounds.

Conduction: Setting up a studio -> selecting costumes –> taking pictures -> talk and reflect about it.

From there on you have two different starting points. The participants start either with acting out farming images or with a re-enactment of media pictures.

There are few theoretical foundations • Arts-based research: To create expressive forms that ask taken for granted knowledge into question, create uncertainty and so raise questions. The goal is to broaden human understanding. • Frames: For example media or individual frames that determine the way to understand how humans organize experience (Goffmann 1974). In this case, it's tried to challenge this fixed frame -> reframing • Carnivalesque activation

Problems could arise with this method, like participants who just reproduce stereotypes or people who just pose for pictures but are not interested in the actual topic. A critique of this method is that there is only little theoretical background and therefore it is difficult to get scientifically proof.

As a participant, I can only say that it was a very funny and interesting experience and I think it is very important that science opens up for new and creative ways of knowledge generation and analysis. A workshop like that is a very good start in the right direction.

Detailed information

Workshop 2 – Reflective Photobooth – A method to address social distancing around farming and food production

Held by: Dipl.-Ing. Valentin Fiala