Cusco, Peru • 2018
In 2018, Jeffrey Allen Price presented at the 10th World Potato Congress in Cusco, Peru, delivering a lecture titled POTATOISM: How Potato Symbolism in Art and Culture Advances the Potato Revolution.
The presentation introduced an international audience of potato researchers, scientists, growers, industry professionals, and educators to the cultural and symbolic dimensions of the potato. Drawing upon more than two decades of artistic practice, collecting, research, and exhibition-making, Price argued that the potato’s significance extends beyond agriculture and nutrition into the realms of art, history, folklore, media, language, humor, and collective identity.
The conference marked an important milestone in the development of POTATOISM, representing one of the first major opportunities to present the framework within an international potato-focused context. By bringing together perspectives from the humanities, visual culture, and contemporary art, the presentation expanded the conversation surrounding the potato and helped establish a foundation for future projects within the Think Potato Institute.
Presented in Peru—the ancestral homeland of the potato and one of the world’s most significant centers of potato diversity—the event held particular symbolic significance within the broader history of POTATOISM and Potato Humanities.
Related Publication:
The abstract for POTATOISM: How Potato Symbolism in Art and Culture Advances the Potato Revolution was published in the official proceedings of the 10th World Potato Congress / XXVIII ALAP Congress:
Abstract Book 10th WPC–XXVIII ALAP 2018 Congress: Biodiversity, Food Security and Business. Instituto Nacional de Innovación Agraria (INIA), Cusco, Peru, pp. 76–77.