Food and Art: Alternative M.A.

Food and design-related events from across the globe.

The Gramounce is a collective researching contemporary politics. They explore how to best convey research through food and art.

Images and text by The Gramounce.

This M.A. pursues the reconceptualisation of
the world through food, reframing a food-scape
reality where to develop an artistic practise.
This programme is built on a desire to explore,
learn and relate to food as a valid discipline in the arts, academia and other educational contexts. The M.A. departs from an understanding of food as foundational, the essential part of any world building exercise. Through it, we aim to establish food and cooking as inherent signifiers of human culture. Seeing-through-food is crucial because food and its systems build the current ecological terraforming.

The majority of this programme is held online, in the form of lectures, guest speaker presentations, conversations and 1-to-1 or group tutorials. References and reading materials are made available in advance, which participants are encouraged to read/engage with.

Once per term, participants are invited to join us on an in-person residency: 10 days of practice-based learning and project development through workshops and creative exercises, held at three different institutions, collectives or platforms in Europe. The residencies are fundamental in order to strengthen bonds between participants and tutors, and offer a chance for experimentation and development of the participants’ projects.

Upon applying, participants are requested to share an in-progress project or plan for a project which relates to the themes explored in the M.A. Throughout the year, participants have the opportunity to further develop this project, through the in-person residencies but also with online support from tutors (1-to-1 tutorials) and peers. At the end of the academic year, we will work towards an exhibition together. This is a chance to showcase the participants’ research and projects and share it with the public. The exhibition can take the form of a dinner, a show of physical artworks, a publication, a film etc. The shape and form of it will be built collectively during the year, following the progress of the participants.

Term 1 – Cooking in the Chtulucene: We begin with an unpicking and questioning of the Anthropocene, considering what it means to “cook in the chtulucene” (Haraway). As we move into the muddy terrains of “contamination as collaboration” (Tsing), we will enter the framework of the Postnatural. Term 2 Neurogastronomic Rewiring: We will investigate and unpick the concept of Neurogastronomy, examining our relationship to taste and its role in cultural, societal and political shifts. Term 3 – Towards a Metabolic Planetary Kitchen:Departing from an unpicking and reshuffling of the prospects of our lives in cities and the food systems that hold us together (or set us apart), we end on the notion of “metabolic intimacy” (Donati) and consider what it means to strive for a practice of “Planetary Cooking”.

The cost of the Alternative M.A. is 2000€ per participant. For participants with less availability, there is the option to join solely for the online content, without access to the residencies or project development. Online access has a cost of 620€. Instalment payments are available depending on the country where the bank card is issued. The online course happens every Monday from October 2023 to May 2024 at 6pm GMT, on Zoom. Each session lasts 90mins. The programme breaks in Winter (15 December 2023 – 15 January 2022) and in Spring (31 March – 14 April).

Include David Zilber, Rowen White, Asunción Molinos Gordo, Charles Spence, Ole G. Mouritsen, Kelly Donati and Black Almanac amongst others.

Applications open in February ‘23, and close at the end of March ‘23, with participants notified by mid-April ‘23. Applications are submitted through The Gramounce website.