21st Century Hunger and the Arts
Arthur Clay, Curator Food Futures Art
The Canvas We Are Painting
The current world population of 7.6 billion is expected to reach 8.6 billion in 2030, 9.8 billion in 2050 and 11.2 billion or beyond in 2100. Even with the assumption that fertility levels will continue to decline, the upward trend in population size is expected to continue. With this, not only will the large movements of migrants from low- and middle-income countries toward high-income countries continue, but with the approximately 83 million people being added to the world’s population every year, food will reach new levels of scarcity, new sources of food and food types must be located, and new power structures will rise and hidden borders drawn.
The coming situation will of course affect us all, because it concerns the future of food and food in the future. It is not time to take on an active role and communicate the inevitable problems as well as all possible solutions? Clearly, we can take on a leading role within the social microcosm we inhabit by simply communicating the subjects at hand through a tangible process of sharing.
When individuals group, cultures are formed. As it is a universal medium of communication, art -the fruit of culture- can be taken and used to provide experiential arenas in the form of exhibitions, installations, and performances in which the perception of facts around the themes at hand are shared in a tactile and tangible way between performers and public.
In reference to art and food, such a thing would be done in an attempt to bring about an awareness in regard to food throuhg art, in order to help make aware of what futures we have, how justice can be achieved, ways in which resources can be fairly shared, how not to want to waste, and to contemplate in practice how to truly rescue a humanity from experiencing endless famine and war by finally coming to the understanding that true solutions are only plausible, when exchanges are made and balances are achieved.
Sharing What Needs to be Shared
Similar to other sustainability initiatives, such projects as the Food Futures Art exhibtion address policy issues and offers reflection on three of the most critical food issues: food security, food accessibility, and food affordability, constituting specific as well as broader issues of food justice and trade. So in end effect, if properly executed, such a project should transform visitors into proactive rolls as future sustainable food practitioners by embracing participation which brings about an engagement that not only makes it possible for the curators to stage an educational parallel along with a profound art experience, but also conveys knowledge and skills that can be passed on to others.
If we consider that when the pepper is passed across the table, a profound gesture is made that summarizes society as a multicultural and practicing a globalized existence with an endless diversity of orientations and coupled integrations. We can surmise that cultures are therefore continuously evolving and by doing so remain socially relevant and in end effect survive. By addressing aspects of the culinary in traditions through a process of de- and reconstruction, it becomes possible to address “identity” as a subject within a very common but extremly artistic context. This is done by approaching the culinary as a medium and with it creating an artwork that takes on significant meaning through a process of “mattering”, or the infusing of a sense of meaning in an object beyond its original and purely utilitarian function.
For this reason, we can consider that it is completely plausible that a dinner table surrounded by guests and hosted by artist can also be a canvas for an artwork to come, or an artwork being mediated in an engaging, collective, and "consuming" manner.
Creating an Arena of Change
The main project of the above mentioned Food Futures Art exhibition, operates under the concept of a sharing table which interprets culinary praxis as a performative art and places that praxis into an active and utilitarian role within the context of “food sharing”, in order to up-cycle the experience into new meaning within the context of “a meal” through mattering.
Given the title "On, Around, Across, Under, and Beyond" the project is driven by interaction of artists at a table with their guests. By letting the subject unfold in time in defined "setting" and with clear structures, or "courses", connections are made and meaning emerges, transforming the dinner table scenerio into an powerful arena of performance. The resulting “interaction” is the artifact of the performative and therefore an artwork, which was produced by the context of the event: an art exhibition with food as medium and with sustainability (the artists role to nurture a culture of sustainability) as an intended goal for discussion.
The usefuleness of the endeavor in creating an artwork out of a performative process involving food becomes self-evident when one observes the situation and comes to understand that it involvs the activity of a group of artists who skills in the kitchen are equivalent to those in the arts arena. In terms of the “experiential", the sharing of a table is a metaphor for the process used to create an artwork with multiple authors, and it seems befitting and indicative of the point being made through the project itself: Culture is shared commodity and traditions are rooted in and are maintained through that sharing. As one could guess, so is any future that we might have.
The Good News I Have
The Food Futures Art exhibition takes an in-depth look at the role of the arts and how this roles might play out in creating and driving a movement towards the establishment of a culture of sustainability.
Of course, there is no clear proof whether artists will or art can practically be applied to such issues as the reconciliation of environmental, establishing social equity, regulating economic demands, however by providing cause for proper impact at the societal level, a culture of sustainability might be nudged forward and somehow aid in insuring the implementation of the proper postulate through arts.
Regardless of outcome and with emphasis on attempt, the Food Futures Art exhibtion and the share table project "On, Around, Across, Under, and Beyond" will be host to a number of internationally recognised artists, celebrated members of a new movement in bio art that embraces food as a medium, and members in the community at the local level in Hannover who will provide perspectives on possible approaches to establishing a culture of sustainability using perspectives from both political positions, the class rooms of the universities, and the walls of the gallery, and the perhaps from the backs of our refriderators...
Food Futures Art is an art exhibition where a select group of artworks will place focus on the importance of cultural contribution. through hands on activities such as workshops and networking sessions in the form of dinners, the collaborative process between participants and audience will be pursued and results will nurture the today's goal of defining and understanding what the future of food is and what food in the future will be in the light of sustainability practices that must come to feed those who are and will grow hungry.
The Bad News We Have
After a prolonged decline, world hunger appears to be on the rise again. Conflict, drought, and disasters clearly linked to climate change are among the key factors causing this reversal in progress.
Here a few facts:
The proportion of undernourished people worldwide increased from 10.6 per cent in 2015 to 11.0 per cent in 2016. This translates to 815 million people worldwide in 2016, up from 777 million in 2015.
In 2017, 151 million children under age 5 suffered from stunting (low height for their age), 51 million suffered from wasting (low weight for height), and 38 million were overweight.
Aid to agriculture in developing countries totalled $12.5 billion in 2016, falling to 6 per cent of all donors’ sector-allocable aid from nearly 20 per cent in the mid-1980s.
Progress has been made in reducing market-distorting agricultural subsidies, which were more than halved in five years—from $491 million in 2010 to less than $200 million in 2015
In 2016, 26 countries experienced high or moderately high levels of general food prices, which may have negatively affected food security.
Source: Report of the Secretary-General, The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2018
Arthur Clay
Hannover, September 2018
