Hungry EcoCities
A S+T+ARTS project, 2022-26
Hungry EcoCities is a project that explores one of the most pressing challenges of our times: the need for a more healthy, sustainable, responsible and affordable agri-food system for all.
Everyone has a right to food. But food isn't about mere subsistence. Food is culturally defined.
What produce do we grow? How do we grow it? What animals do we raise? What do we eat? What do we throw away? And why? Who do we trade food with? Who do we cook for and eat with?
These questions illuminate some of the cultural dimensions of food. And responses are as multiple as there are different cultures and geopolitical contexts on Earth. Food is a phenomenon shaped by the cultures we live in and an expression of millennia of experimentation, innovation, and refinement. What we eat is evidence of our cultures.
In Hungry EcoCities, Studio Other Spaces collaborated with State Studio, the Hungry EcoCities consortium, and a network of partners to focus their inquiry on local food cultures in and around Berlin-Brandenburg and entanglements with global food systems. SOS believes that making existing food cultures and their networked roots communicable and known is a first step towards creating change both in terms of behaviour and policies.
2023 Open Call 1, Humanizing Technology Experiments Residencies:
The first open call selected 10 artists. Their projects represent a convergence of artistic and technological innovations, which promise to inspire a more ethical, inclusive, and sustainable future for food awareness, consumption, and production.
Selected projects:
Acoustic Agriculture by Helena Nikonole
Culinary Journeys by Jeroen van der Most
Ecoshroom by Ivan Henriques
Food Dysmorphia by Bernat Cunì
Future Protein by IM-A Studio
Low Carbon Climate Cookbook by Ling Tan
MVP x FFF by The Center for Genomic Gastronomy
Symbiosis.AI by Frederik De Wilde
Symposio by Yiannis Kranidiotis
The Council of Foods by Nonhuman Nonsense
Among these Studio Other Spaces mentored the artists Nonhuman Nonsense, IM-A Studio and Yiannis Kranidiotis. At the end of the 9-month residencies, each artist produced a video presenting their project:
The Council of Foods by Nonuman Nonsense
Future Protein by IM-A Studio
Symposio by Yiannis Kranidiotis
2024 Open Call 2, Paths to Progress Experiments Residencies:
The second Open Call, selected 10 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) from the agri-food sector and 10 artists to collaborate. Their projects explore and address challenges identified by the agri-food SMEs, contributing to the development of a healthier, more sustainable, and responsible future food system.
Selected projects:
(Be)etogether by Maria Castellanos & Alberto Valverde + Beesage (Data-driven Beekeeping)
Compostable altar by Betiana Pavón+ Le Terre di Zoè (Organic Farm)
Craft | Meats | A by Alexandru Damian + Capanna Prosciutti (Traditional Parma ham producer)
Open Source Harvesting Community by Georg Kettele + Logiqs (Mobile growing systems)
Phygital Seasoning by Laila Snevele + Sensesbit (Consumer analysis)
Quiet Storm by Samuel Van Ransbeeck + Protiberia (Insect farming
Re-Source.Society by Nicolas Rotta + Instagreen (Urban farming)
Sprouting Embryonic Futures by Haseeb Ahmed + Sprout Dynamics (Industrial sprouting)
Straw Return by Isaac Montè + Staramaki (Biodegradable drinking straws)
Tomato Brain by Jo Kroese + Axia Seeds (Vegetable seeds)
At the end of the 14-month residencies, each SME/Artist collaboration produced a video presenting their project. Watch them all here.
Among these Studio Other Spaces mentored the projects Compostable Altar, Phygital Seasoning and Quiet Storm. Their videos are presented below:
Compostable Altar by Betiana Pavón + Le Terre di Zoè.
Phygital Seasoning by Laila Snevele + Sensebit.
Quiet Storm by Samuel Van Ransbeeck + Protiberia
Hungry EcoCities has deepened SOS's commitment to locally grounded research, cross-sector collaboration, and critical engagement with technology.
Rather than framing food as a technical challenge alone, SOS approached food systems as cultural environments— negotiated between humans, more-than-humans, technologies, and territories.
Project duration:
September 2022— February 2026
This Hungry EcoCities project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under grant agreement 101069990. It is part of the S+T+ARTS programme. S+T+ARTS is an initiative of the European Commission to bring out new forms of innovation at the nexus of arts, science and technology. Read more about the project here
Collaborators:
State Studio
Project partners:
Brno University of Technology (CZ)
KU Leuven Institute Leuven.AI (BE)
CRA—Carlo Ratti Associati (IT)
Studio Other Spaces (DE)
In4Art (NL)
Mendel University (CZ)
EatThis (NL)
FundingBox (PL)