Seed from the AVRDC Genebank and the Eastern and Southern Africa Seed Repository is on prominent display in the 56th International Art Exhibition, a world-renown event known as La Biennale di Venezia.

The exhibition, titled All the World’s Futures, runs from 9 May to 22 November 2015 in Venice, Italy.

Belgian artist Koen Vanmechelen contacted AVRDC to obtain vegetable seed to feature in his installation. In the Palazzo Cavalli-Franchetti—the former site of the Banca di Venezia—Vanmechelen has created the LIFEBANK, a display including more than 100 types of vegetable seeds, from traditional crops such as amaranth and African eggplant to global favorites soybean and chili. Live camels and chickens are also part of the installation, which aims to raise awareness of how global food production impacts the lives of people and the health of the environment.

Vanmechelen is one of 136 artists from 53 countries selected to participate in the prestigious event. He has partnered with Slow Food to host his exhibit. Slow Food, an international NGO dedicated to preventing the disappearance of local food cultures and traditions, and increasing people’s interest in the food they eat, where it comes from, and how food choices affect the world around us, has set up a restaurant featuring local specialties, where visitors can eat the art of human cultivation.

“The world before us today exhibits deep divisions and wounds, pronounced inequalities and uncertainties as to the future,” said Biennale organizer Paolo Baratta. “The Biennale observes the relationship between art and the development of the human, social, and political world.”

Follow the progress of Vanmechelen’s LIFEBANK at the Venice Biennale:

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Lifebank
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Seed on display in the LIFEBANK.

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Interior of the former Banca di Venezia, site of Vanmechelen’s LIFEBANK.

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Diners enjoy food prepared with local ingredients during the exhibit opening.

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Mobile greenhouses.

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Art aficionados ponder the meaning of the LIFEBANK.

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Hericium, star of the LIFEBANK.

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Plants in a glass display case.