User:Alice/Project proposal

What do you want to make

A research project on food hacking culture and how food has been appropriated by technology. The specifics of this projects are still unclear at this stage, but I know I have always wanted to work on a project that relates to food in a socio-political context. For me, it's important that food is used as a medium to discuss a broader social context, so this will be more of a research into specific community practices, transfer of knowledge and biases, the political act of food production, etc.

How do you plan to make it

I plan to participate in some food-related events that are organized around the NL and Europe, so I can get a sense on what the scene is at this moment. I also plan to talk to people involved in the culture, as well as continue my research by reading all the books I already have in my library on this topic and following the references found in them. I am not sure yet how much literature there is on the contemporary situation, but I will do my best to find resources. A possible method throughout my research is also organizing my own events/lectures.

What is your timetable

Unclear at the moment, I am still in the stage of gathering resources and ideas. I know that in the next couple of months I will take part in some events (Varia workshop on political history of ingredients, food symposium in Amsterdam).

Why do you want to make it

Reading on food culture, food history and other food related topics has been one of my main interests for many years, so this project comes as a natural progression for me. Furthermore, my recent introduction to the world of software culture has opened new possibilities and insights. Now I want to explore the relationship between the two, and how the principles connected to one can be transferred to another.

Who can help you and how

I have a couple of plans that I hope will lead me into a good direction. I will participate in a couple of workshops/conferences that are related to this topic, try to talk to the people involved and learn more about their motivation. Femke is also a good resource, since she has previously organised an event with Constant which reimagined cooking as a collective practice. Talking to all these people involved in the culture and connecting to these communities will help me develop my ideas. My comrades from Xpub will also be very helpful, as we plan to keep meeting together and feeding ideas to each other.

Relation to previous practice

In the past couple of months I have researched quite a bit about women's relationship with technology. More specifically, I was interested in how women were first introduced to the technological world and were given tasks that seemed, at the time, menial and basic. These tasks eventually became the basis of programming today, a culture completely appropriated by men. Similarly, food production has always been associated with women's work, done behind closed doors, with little or no attention being given to it from the outside. In time, cooking has become appropriated by a different culture, hacking culture, stripped of its emotional layer and turned into a programmatic practice.

Relation to a larger context

As stated earlier, the one connection that jumps out right now is the appropriation of culture that has emerged in technology after world war 2, and is still ongoing today. I am also interested in the idea of food preparation as an anticapitalist political act (as expressed by Michael Pollan) in which people can become more than simple consumers in an industry ruled by big corporations.

References

Pollan, M (2013) Cooked, Penguin

Tannahill, R (1995) Food in History, Broadway Books