Mixed farming

2003

Commissioned by SKOR (Foundation Art and Public Space), eight photographers/visual artists have portrayed the change in the agricultural landscape.

In the province of Overijssel modern dairy farms and the dairy industry were viewed against the background of the historical photographs by Cas Oorthuys and Willem van Heemskerck Düker on this subject. The work of these two photogrpahers shows the emerging mechanization, yet farmers and farmer’s wives can still be seen milking cows. The absence of people in the contemporary photographs for this project seems to indicate that the extensive upscaling and automation processes have reached their completion.

In the province of Zuid-Holland a number of farmsteads and farm interiors were visited that had been photographed for the Farmsteads project ten years before. These places were photographed again from exactly the same viewpoint. When juxtaposed, telling differences can be seen between the old and the new images. A few times there is hardly any difference. In most cases, the farms have changed in function, or agricultural activity has ceased altogether.