ALIMENTO
Paloma Ayala (MX/CH), Kadija de Paula (BR/CAN), Lívia Melzi (BR/FR), Mu (CH),
La Polinizadora (MX/ES), Pedro Zylbersztajn (BR)
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Symposium Tuesday 13th June, 4pm, SAE Greenhouse Lab (more info and program here)
Finissage Saturday 17th June, 6pm, SAE Greenhouse Lab, Häldeliweg 19
6.30pm Performance “Eat the word, chew the meaning, prophesy the taste”, by Pedro Zylbersztajn
7.30pm Sharing of soup prepared by Paloma Ayala (as long as it lasts)
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For the last event of ALIMENTO, the audience will be able to consume the artworks, not just with the eyes but with the mouth. Pedro Zylbersztajn’s performance “Eat the word, chew the meaning, prophesy the taste” will delve into historical and contemporary metaphors comparing reading and textual comprehension to eating and digesting. Meanwhile Paloma Ayala's Pozole will bring the audience together to share food that playfully challenges human's place in the food chain and honours ancestral knowledge.
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ALIMENTO investigates the act of nourishing and brings forward the topic of anthropophagy in order to explore food systems that are based on reciprocity/circularity with the earth, other humans and non-human entities, as well as to challenge extractivist, patriarchal, capitalist and colonial models.
Anthropophagy (the act of eating human flesh) is explored in this exhibition both in the biological and the metaphorical sense, with the intention of examining humans’ relation to nourishment and consequently to the earth. As an element, the earth —the soil, the ground— is the ultimate source of nourishment for most living beings on this planet. For centuries, however, western thought has considered the earth as a resource to be “used” by humans, as opposed to an entity with whom reciprocity must be practiced.
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With the participation of artists Paloma Ayala, Kadija de Paula, Lívia Melzi, La Polinizadora, Mu, Pedro Zylbersztajn and scientists Dr. Tania Galindo Castañeda, Dr. Sandra Smith Aguilar and Dr. Benjamin Wilde.
In collaboration with SAE Greenhouse Lab of the Sustainable Agroecosystems group in ETH and Arvae.
ALIMENTO is the first of a series of 3 exhibitions entitled “Earth is the heaviest element” which addresses the need to de-construct and re-construct our relationship to the earth, other humans and non-human entities. It brings together the knowledge and practices of Latin American and Swiss artists and scientists, in order to suggest alternative ways of co-existing.
Curated by Adriana Domínguez
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