[-empyre-] week three: ArtTechFood

Thu Mar 24 03:24:07 AEDT 2016

 Greetings,

Thanks to Amanda for inviting me to participate in this discussion. As
Leila said, I’m honored to be in dialogue with this brilliant group.

I started exploring food in an art context about ten years ago. At the
time, I was working at the Brooklyn Museum, in a position that bridged the
Education and Curatorial departments, where I collaboratively developed
didactic texts and digital “interactives” with the goal of making
exhibitions and objects accessible to as many visitors as possible. I was
simultaneously working in the fitness industry where I was, of course,
conscious of nutrition and exercise, and also training to become a Just
Food Community Chef, which taught me a lot about food justice. In doing all
of this work, it became clear to me that food was a universal point of
entry into art, with many layers and possibilities for engaging viewers of
different ages and backgrounds. I moved to another organization before I
had the chance to realize a food-focused program at the museum, but my time
there, and Arnold Lehman's community-oriented vision, were influential.

For the past few years, I’ve primarily focused on access to art and food
among people of color in the United States. I’m interested in what art and
artists can do to not only raise awareness of food injustice but to
actually impact how people eat—particularly people who look like me, people
who live on low incomes, and specifically black and Latino youth. In
looking at data from such organizations as the NEA and CDC or Robert Wood
Johnson Foundation, I recognized that the children who have the highest
rates of obesity in the US (black and Latino children) tend to have the
least access to art education in the US public school system. How can we
address both issues at once? This question led me to create With Food in
Mind (WFiM), a nonprofit project/platform for developing art-based
approaches to child obesity and nutrition disparities in low incomes
communities and communities of color. All WFiM projects or lesson plans are
rooted in an artist’s practice or a specific object, such as an African
mask made by the Baule farming society (Ivory Coast) or the Nature Matching
System series by artist Tattfoo Tan, who Amy Lipton mentioned in her recent
empyre post.

Designed to be nomadic, WFiM is currently "in residence" at The Union for
Contemporary Art, where I recently began working as the director of
pedagogy and public practice. (Previously, all WFiM programs were based in
New York City.) The Union is located in North Omaha, a historically African
American neighborhood and Nebraska’s second largest food dessert. I dislike
the term “food dessert” because it’s often misapplied, but I learned
yesterday that this is not a misnomer for North Omaha; residents have been
without a grocery store for forty years, and while immediate access to
fresh produce is increasingly available it is still limited. As I think
about racism in the food system, and the ongoing impact of urban redlining
on food distribution and consumption, it’s been interesting to read the
recent posts on food mapping. I wonder if any of these projects have
revealed food disparities relating to race? If so, how are artists
presenting or addressing this information?

I should add that WFiM is named after an exhibition that I organized in
2011, which looked at artist cookbooks and recipes and featured works by
Tattfoo Tan, Robin Kahn, Counter Kitchen, Isabelle Lumpkin, Leah Rosenberg,
Joy Garnett and many other artists who I continue to follow, work with, and
write about.

More soon,
Nicole

On Fri, Mar 18, 2016 at 9:14 PM, Amanda McDonald Crowley <
amandamcdc at gmail.com> wrote:

> ----------empyre- soft-skinned space----------------------
> Hello -empyre-ians,
>
> So as we enter week three of our ArtTechFood discussion, I am thrilled and
> honored to introduce this week's discussants, Nicole Caruth, Leila Nadir,
> and Jodi Newcombe.
>
> We've heard from Stefani and Marina on their mapping projects, as well as
> Hernani's urban ag interventions. Week 2 we had encounters with futuristic
> and practical art and food strategies from Mary Mattingly and Shu Lea
> Cheang. And many other interesting projects have been introduced besides.
> Personally, I have found it really useful to reflect on projects that have
> inspired me, and discover new ones besides.
>
> Nicole and Jodi will bring a curatorial eye on food justice and
> environmental justice issues, and I feel sure that Leila will talk to
> practical strategies on bio-futures (and pasts) that help us to contemplate
> more healthful futures.
>
> Over to our new discussants to talk about their work. I trust that past
> discussant will chime in as they feel inclined, and that you - empyre-ians
> might also contemplate contributions.
>
> I am re:sending this week's discussants bios below, for reference. Check
> out their web sites: they all do amazing work in this field and beyond...
>
> Amanda
>
>
> Nicole J. Caruth (US) is a writer, curator, and art education advocate.
> Her writing has appeared in a range of publications including ART news, C
> Magazine, Gastronomica, Nka: Journal of Contemporary African Art, Public
> Art Review, Walker Art Center Magazine, and the Phaidon Press volumes
> Vitamin  D2 and Vitamin Green. She is the founding editor of Art21 Magazine
> (est. 2013). Currently, Nicole is the director of pedagogy and public
> practice at The Union for Contemporary Art. Situated in the historically
> African American enclave of Omaha, Nebraska, The Union addresses local
> social justice issues through an artist fellowship program, exhibitions,
> performances, youth classes, and more. Deeply committed to helping people
> live healthfully, in 2012 she founded With Food in Mind, a nonprofit
> developing art-based approaches to child obesity and nutrition disparities
> in low-income neighborhoods and communities of color. Nicole has written
> extensively about food in contemporary art and
>  has been called one of the leading voices on the subject.
> http://www.nicolecaruth.com/
>
> Leila Nadir (US) works as an artist, critic, and creative writer to
> explore evolutions of food, ecology, community, media, and memory. In
> collaboration artist Cary Peppermint, shecreates participatory situations
> that facilitate recovery from a cultural memory disorder they call
> "industrial amnesia," bringing endangered environmental practices into
> poetic visibility, feeling-perception, and simple acts of everyday life.
> Their projects have been supported by Bemis Center for Contemporary Art,
> Center for Land Use Interpretation, NY Foundation for the Arts, NY State
> Council on the Arts, Franklin Furnace, and numerous academic fellowships.
> Leila earned her PhD in English from Columbia University, is an Andrew
> Mellon Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow of Environmental Humanities, and
> currently teaches at University of Rochester as Lecturer of Sustainability
> and Environmental Humanities. She spends most of her time in the kitchen,
> and is currently writing a childhood memoir about the co
>  lorful marriage of her Afghan father and Slovak-American mother,
> including their frequent fights about food.
> http://ecoarttech.net
>
> Jodi Newcombe (AU) founded Carbon Arts following an international career
> as an environmental economist and sustainability consultant. Her work on
> natural resource management and policy design, green technology and low
> carbon urban design inform her work with the creative sector. Carbon Arts
> generates and evaluates creative models for engaging society in imagining
> and shaping a more sustainable future. Straddling the arts, economics,
> science, and technology, our projects foster innovation and dialogue
> between disciplines and the public as a means to address contemporary
> environmental challenges. We do this through targeted and timely public art
> commissions, events, workshops, exhibitions and research. We work with
> forward-thinking governments, businesses, artists and designers to inject
> creative talent and thinking into decision-making and to reach broad
> audience.
> http://www.carbonarts.org/about/
>
>
> --
> Amanda McDonald Crowley
> Cultural Worker / Curator
> http://publicartaction.net
>
> @amandamcdc
>
> food nostalgia is currently on view at Radiator Gallery until March 13
>
> -emprye- currently moderating thematic email listserv conversation on the
> topic #ArtTechFood through March 2016
>
> _______________________________________________
> empyre forum
> empyre at lists.artdesign.unsw.edu.au
> http://empyre.library.cornell.edu
>

-- 

Nicole J. Caruth

Founder and Director

With Food in Mind

P: 718.887.1880

www.withfoodinmind.org

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