Attractor: Denisa Kera
We want to rethink the relation between food and technology and experiment with future metabolic exchanges that are biological, technological and political at the same time. Cooking and eating offer and ideal ground for design experiments with future scenarios around the theme of “tribute to uncertainty”. Metabolism, death and possible apocalypse are all part of the same process, which intimately links various organisms and scales of existences. We will explore extreme eating and cooking practices that are not afraid to rethink the function and possibilities of deadly and evil ingredients in our planet kitchen like CO2 and GMOs and rethink their limits. We want to test new relations between food chains, networks and systems at a variety of scales and propose new, metabolic exchanges.
Methodology: We will explore various forms of cooking and eating at times of uncertainty and possible apocalypse by organizing workshops and dinners with the participants. With series of recipes and interventions we want to transform the dinners into apocalyptic event showing various metabolic interactions that will prepare the participants for the ultimate and inevitable. Our body is a system transforming thousands of organisms into a source of energy for other organisms, so perpetually involved in death and apocalypses. How to make these processes visible and enjoyable?
Biography: Denisa Kera is Assistant Professor at the National University of Singapore and Asia Research Institute fellow. In her present research she is bringing together Science Technology Society (STS) studies and interactive media design. She builds design prototypes and critical probes to reflect upon issues in STS and create tools for deliberation and public participation in science. She also studies science community labs and alternative R & D places (Hackerspaces, FabLabs) around the world following the convergence of web technologies and biotech around (Do It Yourself) DIYbio movements, consumer genomics and various citizen science projects. She has extensive experience as a curator of exhibitions and projects related to art, technology and science, and previous career in internet start-ups and journalism.