The Potatoes’ Testimony in Defense of the Earth: Planting

Potatoes and their relatives are more than crops; they embody stories. As living archives, they carry centuries of cultivation, displacement, and resistance in their roots. Originating in the Central Andes, these plants were domesticated by Indigenous communities long before they travelled across the world to reshape global foodways – often through the violent disruptions of colonization. 

This activation by artists Daniela Zambrano Almidón and Åsa Sonjasdotter brings those histories into the soil of Spore’s garden. Through the act of planting together, the event connects stories of solidarity and struggle among peasants in the Andean regions of Huánuco, Apurímac, and Cusco in Peru, as well as in Germany and beyond, tracing the relationships between land, knowledge, and community that tubers have long embodied and continue to carry.

Come and plant with us. Get your hands in the earth and listen to the potatoes’ testimony.