In March this year the Cat and Zack from the Center ran a workshop with art and design students from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) and culinary students from Kendall College.
Even in dark times, people find ways and reasons to celebrate. It is very easy to imagine dystopian speculative futures these days, but at the center we thought it might be productive to imagine positive futures. Hence we prompted the culinary students and art+design students to collaborate to imagine future festivals and celebrations. All celebrations are made up at some point, and if repeated enough, become culture. We wanted to think about and imagine what will be worth celebrating in the future.
After 3 days of working together brainstorming, planning and testing, the students presented their work to staff and students from both colleges. It was very enjoyable having the art+design and culinary students working together, and we think they learnt a lot from each other’s processes, ways of working and even how they talk about their ideas and work.
We worked closely with the wonderful Elaine Sikorski from Kendall College who expertly guided the students through the culinary development of their projects, making sure all the dishes not only looked good, but tasted delicious! See below for the results.
TEAM 1
This team imagined a festival called “Balancing Act” and developed three dishes that highlighted and aimed to counteract damage done to local ecosystems, looking at land, water and air.
TEAM 2
This team imagined a future holiday that celebrates forests, taking inspiration from the circular aspects of forest ecosystems and encouraging farming to de-industrialize.
TEAM 3
This team imagined a dirt day holiday that reconnects diners with the living aspects of soil in a future where hydroponics and aeroponics have come to dominate agriculture.
During their presentations both SAIC and Kendall college students and staff were present to taste and ask questions about the future festivals the students had imagined.
Photo Credits: Photos were taken by SAIC students Parker Wang, Ravina Puri and Daniela Amorim Reis, and the center.