Michael Swaine, Artist & Archie Wessells, Gardener (September 2024)

The Merwin Conservancy welcomed artist Michael Swaine and gardener Archie Wessells—collaborators and members of the collective Futurefarmers—for a residency in September 2024.

Michael Swaine is an inventor and designer working in many media. He has collaborated with Futurefarmers since 1997 and is the analog anchor of the studio. Archie Wessells has a background in drawing and painting, and has been gardening in one place for 25 years, with a focus on plants from the coastal fog deserts of Northern Chile.

Futurefarmers is a collective of artists, designers, architects, scientists, and farmers with a common interest in creating frameworks for exchange that catalyze moments of “not knowing.” Founded in 1996, their participatory projects use various media to create work that has the potential to destabilize notions of “certainty.” They deconstruct systems such as food policies, public transportation, and farming networks to visualize and understand their intrinsic logics. Their work often provides a playful entry point and tools for participants to gain insight into deeper fields of inquiry—not only to imagine, but to participate in and initiate change in the places we live.

Futurefarmers have published A Variation on Powers of Ten, Sternberg Press, 2012; For Want of a Nail, MIT Press, 2018. They have exhibited at Solomon R. Guggenheim, 2010, New York Museum of Modern Art 2008, Whitney Museum of American Art, Biennial 2000, Sharjah Biennale 2017, Taipei Biennale 2018 and the Walker Art Center 2009.