"MAP Office: The Oven of Straw" Installation View

In this installation in the UCCA Nave, Hong Kong-based artist/architect duo MAP Office will focus on the historical, fundamental importance of wheat. “The Oven of Straw” is a space paradoxically made of the very stuff it is intended to consume—a portrayal of an agricultural product crucial to society and economy, yet highly vulnerable to fire and drought. The installation comprises bales of straw fronted by an imposing façade resembling a bank, an electric blue fluorescent tube on the frieze serving as a reminder of the ephemeral nature of material goods as well as the commercial imperatives that underpin their production. The interior operates like a small cinema, and features a two-channel video installation that mixes archival material from various influential films relating to wheat. Originally displayed in Ukraine, a country with an economy largely based in agriculture, the piece was conceived for the first Kiev Biennial in 2012. This will be its second showing.