Our Sister organisation MKP (Tomorrow’s Art Audience) is launching a new project about sustainable agriculture and food in 2027. They write:
How food is produced and what we eat is essential for our health. The network of Nordic (from Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland.) organisations will organise a series of workshops in three Nordic countries. We organise these workshops to counteract the fact that there is extensive and yet non-connected knowledge about among organisations and artists in the Nordic countries how to use eduction and art to promote sustainable farming and eating habits. Through our work we will get a better picture of the knowledge in the region and to spread the knowledge among Nordic institutions. Finally, we want to share knowledge, experience and our connections to related art, education and science networks in Europe with our Nordic peers.
(1) In early spring 2027 the participants of the project will meet at Ekerö and Stockholm. At Ekerö, we will visit Rosenhill and learn about their experiences of ecological farming. After that we will proceed to a two day working session at nearby Rastaholmen. Here everyone will get to know each other better and we will learn about each others’ methodologies, research and practice. During the two days we mix lectures and discussions with practical exercises that include art, cooking and experiences in the beautiful surrounding nature. The group will also be served excellent and healthy food. The first working session will end in Stockholm with a public event. Here the group will present the results of what was learned at Ekerö interspersed with artistic performances that highlight the questions of the project. (2) A second workshop will be held in Copenhagen in May 2027. Here the group will focus on eating habits and the human microbiome, the microbes that we live in symbiosis with. What can we do to make the “right” microbes in our gut happier? How do our eating habits affect our health? What is that our bodies lack and how can we ingest what is needed? The second session is more theoretical than the other two. It will however include visits to places of interest like the Medical museion. (3) The third working session will be held in Jakobstad (Pietarsaari) in North-western Finland i September 2027. Here we will work closely with a local plant school as well as the local art community. The first part of the workshop will focus on music and its relationship to the project’s themes. The group will for instance be introduced to the field of “phytoacoustics” which is the emerging scientific field studying how plants perceive, produce, and respond to sound waves through air and the soil. Again, we will make a public presentation that mixes performances and lectures. The second part of the workshop will be devoted to documenting and evaluating the results of the project.
In the long run, it is in everyone’s interest to have access to good food and to eat well which can have enormous impact on human health. In a shorter perspective, we aim to learn from each other what the key aspects of establishment of better health through better agriculture and better eating habits. We also investigate the role of pollutants, how they can be avoided and cleansed from the body. The final end goal of the project lies in sharing methods to promote healthier eating and living habits. The project puts special emphasis on how the directness of the arts (visual art, music, dance, film, theatre etc.) can be used to reach audiences with these message in creative and inspiring ways. That is why the project brings together players in ecological farming, medical research, healthcare, cutting edge cooking together with open-minded arts organisations. We are happy to have IKFKOS aboard the project who will offer animist perspectives on the project’s questions.