Food FIght/Art160

using contemporary art strategies to address food security issues on campus

COURSE DESCRIPTION

In this course, we take an out-of-the-box approach to campus-wide food deficits by using creative practices to form community connections and explore different avenues for addressing the availability of nutritious, affordable foods. We start with a simple premise: all students have the right to access healthy foods when they are hungry. From there, we will work collaboratively with existing campus groups while also imagining and deploying new experiences and methods for bringing food into the hands of students. We will focus on taking the stigma out of food insecurity by creating spaces for meaningful conversation where community connections are nurtured. Projects in this hands-on studio course include: the creation of unconventional, pop-up dining experiences, experimenting with video and social media projects, and fostering community engagement within the context of contemporary art and critical ideas.

Tracking Origins

As part of this course, students were tasked with selecting a product and tracking all of the ingredients to their locations of origins. This allowed students to understand where their food is actually coming from and all of the processes it goes through to get from farm production to plate.

MADE BY HAND

With the help of Ehren Tool, our ceramics studio mechanician, the students were able to create and paint their own bowls which were then used to serve food during the Thursday community soup days. Spices were donated by Oaktown Spice and bread by Tartine. Course supplies and equipment were made possible by a Creative Discovery Grant.

TRANSITIONING TO REMOTE LEARNING

Our course is centered on group projects, critical community engagement, and collaborating with each other and the Berkeley campus. Our course began with weekly, student-made soups and frequent small group projects, and has transitioned into an online classroom where we are far apart yet still work together as much as possible. We are currently working on a foraging unit where we search for wild edibles using a field guide from Berkeley Open Source Food. We collectively contribute to an iNaturalist class project, often discovering the same wild edibles across the US where we shelter in place.

The course final project has transitioned from a pop up diner to a collaborative cookbook. Find it here: https://www.blurb.com/b/10115365-covid-cookbook

THE ART HISTORY CHALLENGE

Using museum databases online, students selected a work of art and recreated it using everyday items found in their homes. 

Class Gallery