A(R)TALK 12: Food for the Future
Image: from the series „Cockaigne” | Greenhouse, Somerset, Kentucky, USA, 2023 © Gregor Sailer
May 20, 2026 | 5.30 PM
TICKETS AVAILABLE IN DUE COURSE
We are pleased to present the 12th edition of our ongoing A(R)Talk series, featuring a panel discussion with Austrian photographer Gregor Sailer, who has long been fascinated by landscapes shaped by human intervention, unusual structures, remote places, and restricted areas.
After exploring the economic exploitation of Arctic regions in a project that resulted in his acclaimed book The Polar Silk Road (2021), Sailer has more recently turned his attention to agriculture. He is particularly focused on innovative approaches that address the impact of population growth and the climate crisis on global food production and consumption. He has examined massive greenhouses in the United States and Swedish data centers. He has explored insect and jellyfish farms in Austria, France, and Germany.
Using an analogue large-format view camera, Sailer creates striking images that allow viewers to enter these spaces that are usually concealed from the public: The self-contained, biodiverse ecosystem of enchanted food forests in the High Atlas; barren food deserts in the icy north; test facilities for the colonization of Mars and the Moon; high-tech production sites for algae, insects, and lab-grown meat; and sealed laboratories for virus and cell cultivation. With precision and clarity, his work reveals how human ingenuity, ecological limits, and global power structures intersect.
Through a PowerPoint presentation and a conversation moderated by Dr. Stephanie Buhmann, Head of Visual Arts, Art, and Architecture at the ACFNY, Sailer will discuss his experiences and findings on this complex subject, as well as the process behind his stunning photographs, compiled in his latest book, Cockaigne (Kehrer Publishers, 2025), and currently featured in an exhibition at the Natural History Museum in Vienna.
The evening will conclude with a Q&A session with the audience and reception.
About the Speakers
Gregor Sailer is a photographer working at the intersection of art and architecture. His work explores how buildings and infrastructures embody economic, political, and social ideas, often focusing on remote or otherwise inaccessible locations. From 2002 to 2007, he studied Communication Design at the Dortmund University of Applied Sciences and Arts, specializing in photography and experimental film. In 2015, he completed a Master’s degree in Photographic Studies at the same institution. Sailer’s work has received numerous awards and has been exhibited nationally and internationally in solo and group exhibitions, including in New York, London, Arles, Milan, Vienna, Prague, Berlin, and Budapest. Many of his photographic series have been published as books, most recently Cockaigne, The Polar Silk Road, The Box, and Unseen Places. He lives and works in Tyrol, Austria. Image Credits: Patrick Saringer
Dr. Stephanie Buhmann (Moderator): Serves as Head of Visual Art, Architecture & Design at the Austrian Cultural Forum New York (ACFNY). She has conducted more than ninety published interviews with contemporary artists. Recent monographs include Frederick Kiesler: Galaxies (The Green Box, 2023), Ernst Caramelle: Two Dots, One Line (The Green Box, 2025), and the forthcoming Vally Wieselthier: Sculpting Modernism (The Green Box, 2026). She is a contributing author and co-editor of Roma Artist Ceija Stojka: What Should I Be Afraid of? (Hirmer Publishers, 2024), Touch Nature: Art in the Age of the Climate Crisis (Böhlau Publishers, 2024), and Judith P. Fischer and Uwe Hauenfels: Across Time. Form and Space (The Green Box, 2025).Image Credits: Marcin Muchalski & Sabrina Vertzman, New York