Artists Statement

Humans have been cultivating animals and plants for more than 10000 years. But we can no longer live of mother Earth’s resources the same way as we did before. With the presence of the new geological epoch – the Anthropocene, it becomes evident that “the ecological catastrophe has already happened” (Morton). We have to adjust now if we want to survive. The important question for our near future is how to feed the soon-to-be 9 billion population. The Anthropocene Cookbook is an artistic research project investigating the future cuisine. The project maps and explores the most innovative and speculative ideas about alternative foods within arts, design, science & technology. How does food look from a perspective of a post-ecological catastrophe? Should we eat insect based food? Or nanotechnological nutritions? What about food printers for cooking? Or using genetic technologies to grow beef in-vitro in the lab? How can we prepare for indoor based farming? And how to turn such foods into something socially accepted and eaten on a daily basis, not just as a something exceptional or taboo’ish. How can insect based food become an everyday thing, such as Junk Food Insect Burgers for the Future? Let’s find the global taste of the Anthropocene.

• Stahl Stenslie, Professor, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark. Artist, curator and researcher in experimental media art a. His aesthetic focus is on that what challenges ordinary ways of perceiving the world. Through his practice he asks the questions we tend to avoid – or where the answers lie in the shadows of existence. Keywords of his practice are somaesthetics, unstable media, transgression and numinousness. The technological focus in his works is on the art of the recently possible – such as i) panhaptic communication on Smartphones, ii) somatic and immersive soundspaces, and iii) design of functional and lethal art. Starting as Head of PNEK (Production Network for Electronic Art), Norway in the fall. He has a PhD on Touch and Technologies from The School of Architecture and Design, Oslo, Norway. Currently he is teaching and researching as a professor in Art & Technology (opplevelsesteknologi) at Aalborg University, Denmark. art.aau.dk  pnek.org
• Zane Cerpina, Norway