[-empyre-] March 2016: FOOD/TECH/ART - mapping and data visualization

[Amanda McDonald Crowley]

On Mar 7, 2016, at 10:57 PM, Marina Zurkow wrote:

> I am personally interested in the question of how artists (including myself) influence participants, with meaningful and material experiences that might have some lasting effects in day-to-day decisions.
> 
> I just wanted to add some links, and ask some questions.
> 
> First, questions:
> We are hoping empyre-ites might know of analogous, layered maps that activate participants by sharing not only projects they can partake in, but also unpack the layers of a complex system - like food system.
> 
> How do artists you know invite participation and systems thinking?


Hi Marina,

Thanks for the introduction and the questions. I love all three of the projects you mentioned, but for now, your question sent me off to do a bit of research. Perhaps these are resources that the Food and the City Working Group have already started to assemble? But I thought I'd point out some that I came across, prompted by your question:

Food Systems Research Institute: http://www.foodsystemsresearchinstitute.com/
They posit that a sustainable food system can be achieved in an environmentally friendly, profitable, and socially beneficial manner. The ecological stress humans have placed on water, soil, and air resources is increasing and as the world population grows. Responsible management of these resources is a big part of figuring out how we can achieve global food security. And the three key areas they appear to work are in: Food Systems Planning, Mapping and Geoanalytics, Visualization and Marketing.

I also came across an organization called Hyperakt, who developed a research project on child food insecurity in America for Feeding America
http://hyperakt.com/items/feeding-america/

Our World In Data also has a number of visualizations that relate to Food and Agriculture. http://ourworldindata.org/

Food Tech Connect is a really great resource for all things, well Food and Tech ;)  And they have logged numerous examples of data visualisation projects that relate to food and tech: http://www.foodtechconnect.com/tag/data-visualization/

On a more creative front, I'm rather fond of the work of Data Cuisine, a project that specifically explores food as a means of communication and information expression - food AS the data visualisation tool, as it were. http://data-cuisine.net/

What's missing from most of the examples I found, however, is this idea of the potential for participants to share in data gathering (though there are loads of Citizen Science initiatives that provide for that and Citizen Science is one web site that gathers many of these projects together for the USA http://staging.citizenscience.org/ ); identifying projects that participants can share; but mostly, there are few if any examples that I came across that really try to unpack a LAYERED COMPLEX SYSTEM.

Would love to hear if others know of other interesting projects, or could comment on this.

regards

Amanda

--
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