BEYOND THE PLOT
Resistance Against the Delineation of Land and Practice in Agriculture
Exhibition & Public Program
April 13-18, 2026
Experimental Gallery, Cornell University.
This project was generously supported by:
the Cornell College of Architecture, Art, and Planning’s Engagement Impact Grant, Cornell Council for the Arts, The Institute for Comparative Modernities and the Rural Humanities Micro-Grant.
April 13-18, 2026
Experimental Gallery, Cornell University.
This project was generously supported by:
the Cornell College of Architecture, Art, and Planning’s Engagement Impact Grant, Cornell Council for the Arts, The Institute for Comparative Modernities and the Rural Humanities Micro-Grant.
The exhibition Beyond the Plot is part of a long-term, multifaceted research project of the same name that explores concepts of control and resistance in agriculture. The title plays on the word “plot” simultaneously as an enclosed area of land and the structure of a narrative. At once, the work examines both the current delimitations of land and thought imposed by extractivist USDA policy, and the everyday forms of resistance enacted by small-scale farmers and land-cultivation groups against imperial agricultural systems in Upstate New York.
Public programs:
April 13, 5:00 - 7:00 PM
Undercurrents: Navigating the Colonial Legacies in Agriculture
Join us on Monday, April 13 at 5:00 pm, for a panel featuring Silvia Bottinelli, Full Teaching Professor in the Visual and Material Studies Department at Tufts University, and Garrett Graddy-Lovelace, provost Associate Professor, SIS | Environment, Development & Health at American University. Bottinelli will present her recent book Artists and the Practice of Agriculture, which highlights how artists engage with agricultural systems and address its enduring colonial legacies. Graddy-Lovelace will speak about the importance of engaging with the coloniality of USDA policy and will discuss her work toward a more equitable, socially and racially just Farm Bill. Together, their presentations explore the intersections of artistic practice, historical memory and ongoing strategies for confronting colonial legacies in agriculture.
April 15, 5:00-7:00 PM
Thinking with Land as a Collective Space
Join Katie Rueff, María Bulla and Carla Rangel García in a collective reading session, sharing excerpts from books and songs that talk about resistance movements in agriculture, indigenous and campesino-led land management, and alternative food cultivation practices. This session is the result of conversations held in their reading group Thinking with Land as a Collective Space (sponsored by the Institute for Comparative Modernities).
April 13, 5:00 - 7:00 PM
Undercurrents: Navigating the Colonial Legacies in Agriculture
Join us on Monday, April 13 at 5:00 pm, for a panel featuring Silvia Bottinelli, Full Teaching Professor in the Visual and Material Studies Department at Tufts University, and Garrett Graddy-Lovelace, provost Associate Professor, SIS | Environment, Development & Health at American University. Bottinelli will present her recent book Artists and the Practice of Agriculture, which highlights how artists engage with agricultural systems and address its enduring colonial legacies. Graddy-Lovelace will speak about the importance of engaging with the coloniality of USDA policy and will discuss her work toward a more equitable, socially and racially just Farm Bill. Together, their presentations explore the intersections of artistic practice, historical memory and ongoing strategies for confronting colonial legacies in agriculture.
April 15, 5:00-7:00 PM
Thinking with Land as a Collective Space
Join Katie Rueff, María Bulla and Carla Rangel García in a collective reading session, sharing excerpts from books and songs that talk about resistance movements in agriculture, indigenous and campesino-led land management, and alternative food cultivation practices. This session is the result of conversations held in their reading group Thinking with Land as a Collective Space (sponsored by the Institute for Comparative Modernities).