Filed under: 5/5, Art, Bread, Design, Food, Foraging, Helsinki, Network, Recipes, Recycling | Tags: activism, bread, city, community, consumption, event, experimental, food, forgotten, knödel, overproduction, participatory, salvage, waste
Our kitchen this morning
The last and final event of the project ‘5 The dish’ took place last night at my home on Iso Roba. Starting at 5 pm, last guests left around 1:30 am – that would be 8,5 hrs of Knödel party! This morning, I woke up with a hangover of sorts (which was not caused by too much glögi) – was this really the last event? I feel sad, but also relieved; now, the writing can start, and tomorrow, I will take off to Austria and Germany afterwards for holidays (if the snow storm doesn’t wreck my travel plans).
‘Waste’ bread from the supermarket
Preparations started with a supermarket tour on Thursday morning, when I picked up a bag full of the bread that would have officially expired the next day (supermarkets usually sort out products one day before expiration date), and which would have gone to the bin. I felt a bit like Santa Clause with that huge heavy black plastic bag full of goodies on my back, tramping back home through the snow. I unpacked the bread to prevent it from becoming mouldy – my flat smelled like some sort of bakery for three days.
The plan was to make so-called ‘Knödel’ from the waste bread, a typical German dish that recycles stale bread. I am sure none of my guests would have expected those hot steaming round bread balls to be as tasty as they were – not even me! I have to admit, the first Knödel in my mouth just truly made my night – so hearty, warming, and comforting! (talking about food arousing memories) The kitchen was packed with people, and nevertheless we managed to cook together. People just started chopping up bread and following the recipe that hung next to the stove. I didn’t even count how many different doughs were made last night, but there were quite a few, ranging from rye-beetroot- over normal white-bread-parsley-onion- to mixed-bread-with-carrots-Knödels.
All photos but first two by Marina Ekroos
The night went on with our ‘analogue Facebook’ wall – visualizing the social network of people at the party and those who had participated in former events and workshops of this project. It only stopped when we ran out of stickers! When people left, ‘Knödel doggy bags’ with the recipe printed on them were handed out to be filled with leftover bread from the table. Long live the Knödel!
Check out more pictures taken by Marina of the night on Facebook or/and Picasa! Thanks to her again for the great support. :)
Filed under: 5/5, Art, Bread, Design, Food, Good to know, Helsinki, Network, Recipes, Recycling | Tags: activism, bread, city, community, consumption, event, food, knödel, overproduction, participatory, salvage, waste
The art and food event series ‘5 – The dish’ comes to an end with this big final event: an open invitation to the artist’s house! Welcome to bring as many friends as you want. The only thing I ask from everybody is to bring old bread – either from your own kitchen, salvaged from the supermarket waste bin, hunted for in a bakery, or from elsewhere – be creative! We will pile up the ‘waste bread’ and turn them into delicious ‘Knödels’.
This event is a chance to meet new and known faces, build up new networks, think of new projects, and reflect upon past, present, and things to come…
Date: December 5th 2010 (this week’s Sunday)
Location: at my home, on Big Mama’s 5th floor (where I share a flat with two girls). Iso Roobertinkatu 26 A 14, 00120 Helsinki
Time: starting from 5 pm onwards. Open end.
Looking forward to seeing you!
Filed under: 4/5, Art, Bread, Design, Food, Making of, Network, Workshop | Tags: activism, city, consumption, event, experimental, food, local, näkkileipä, participatory
Last night, I finally had a meeting with Antto Melasniemi, co-owner of the two Helsinki restaurants Ateljé Finne in Töölö and Kuurna in Kruununhaka, to schedule and plan the 4th event of the 5-series, which deals with the consumption step (4/5:CONSUME). The day before, I bumped into Salla Kuuluvainen, who played an important role in the oven workshop and is generally active in urban gardening and food activism. I invited her along, and she immediately joined forces. So now, there is a team!
Since Antto is busy travelling the next week, we moved the event to the 29th of Nov., a Monday, which is the usual day of rest of the location (restaurant Ateljé Finne). The rough plan is to create an ephemeral dinner, meaning that literally nothing will be left after the meal, no tools, no crockery, no cutlery. We will organize an afternoon workshop for creating those ephemeral objects for 10 people, who will invite one avec to join us for the dinner following the workshop. Antto, Salla, and I will complete the edible objects with dishes that will be kept in secret. Stay tuned for updates!
Filed under: Network, Theories | Tags: activism, city, community, participatory
Harvest talkoot//Source: http://www.erm.ee
Have you ever heard that word before? Me either! First time I encountered the term was in the context of the oven building workshop in the Summer, when the word was mentioned to describe the building process as an ‘urban talkoot’. The word exists in different cultures with similar meaning, such as ‘bee’ or ‘barn raising’ in English, ‘imece’ in Turkish, ‘talgod’ in Estonian, ‘dugnad’ in Norwegian, ‘kaláka’ in Hungarian, ‘gadugi’ in Cherokee, and tłoka in Polish, or ‘Nachbarschaftshilfe’ in German.
In Finland, it is an old tradition to help our your neighbour or the community in a village with volunteer work to build e.g. a barn, a house, an oven, or to harvest the fields. This tradition is still alive in old neighbourhoods on the countryside and at Finn’s mökkis (cottages). Andrew Petterson, a researcher in media lab at Taik in Helsinki, has written the very interesting paper ‘A Buzz between Rural Cooperation and the Online Swarm’ about the word ‘talkoot’, analyzing its lingual origins and meaning, and comparing it to contemporary internet practices. According to him, internet communication and web activity enlarge the ‘social capital’ of a society, referring to the term defined by French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu. “Social capital is a sociological concept, which refers to connections within and between social networks. The core idea is “that social networks have value. Just as a screwdriver (physical capital) or a college education (human capital) can increase productivity (both individual and collective), so do social contacts affect the productivity of individuals and groups”.” (Wikipedia/Putnam, Robert)
With the expansion of big cities, social bonds between neighbours got lost. Whilst we may not know the people who live next door, we might talk online to strangers from the other side of the world, give advice and ask for help. Still, it seems that virtual social networks are indeed reviving real life social bonds, which is a very promising sign for the future. Comparing it again to the fine example of the oven workshop: instead of direct neighbours, it was mostly anonymous strangers who gathered via internet platforms, but real life social bonds were the result of it!
Filed under: Art, Food, Network, Projects for inspiration | Tags: activism, culture, event, nature, participatory
Interspecies collaborations/ David Rothenberg
A few weeks ago, I have been contacted by a Swedish artist named Jana Fröberg, who studied at the Art Academy of Oslo, where my good friend Tabea is studying now. Somehow, she had stumbled upon my blog, and told me about an art and ecology happening in Oslo she is participating in, Gentle Actions. Shortly after, I got to know Jan van Boeckl, who is a researcher and lecturer in Environmental Art Education, when he attended the 2/5:GROW-dinner at Taik, who tells me about participating in the Gentle Actions event. What a small world! A few days ago, I talked to Tabea on Skype, and she attended the event and got to know, without knowing about me knowing, Jana and Jan. The world is not only small, it is shrinking!
“Gentle Actions is an art & ecology happening with an experimental visual framework that will take place at the gallery Kunstnerenes Hus in Oslo/Norway from the 23rd of October till the 14th of November 2010. It will be an interactive meeting place which combines the transformatory power of art with interdisciplinary ecology. Gentle Actions will function as a social sculpture and gather people engaged in social transformation within the arts, culture, humanities, social and nature based academia together with cultural activists and an actively engaged public. It will be an interactive and collaborative platform that includes dialogues and lectures, various presentations, workshops, discussions, and an extensive film program.
Quoting Jaques Rancière: “Art no longer wants to respond to the excess of commodities and signs, but to a lack of connections. The loss of the “social bond”, and the duty incumbent on artist to work to repair it, are the words on the agenda… It’s not only the forms of civility that we have lost, but the very sense of co-presence of beings and things that constitutes a world.”
As part of the program, Jana and the artists Sandor Ellix Katz and Rebecka Beinart will do something very inspiring and related to my topic:
“Porridge, cutting edge yoghurt, and sourdough bread” – This space will provide food for thought in the form of workshops, space for conversation and the rituals of sharing meals, in addition to a variety of sensory experiences. There will be a rich array of tastes and smells from living cultured foods and sourdough bread, to traditional porridge and wild teas. The duration of the event will be marked through the slow fermentation and growth of living foods occupying the space.
Wish I could be there!
Filed under: Design, Network | Tags: community, food, local, simple living, slow
Yesterday, I stumbled over Tabea Glahs’, a very good old friend, blog about Simple Living. We studied together in Italy and now she is doing a Master in Communicaton Design in Oslo. Our thoughts about design go in very similar directions, which I find very pleasant. Last year, we shared an experience that had quite an important impact on our lives. We spent some time in a living community in St. Ellero in Tuscany last year (me actually only one day, which was already enough to influence me strongly!). The simple way of living, in generous harmony with others, nature, and oneself felt so light compared to many other styles of living elsewhere. The pizza baking in an old farm house stone oven at night for around 50 people actually inspired me in the process of bringing such an oven (of sorts), together with other dreamers, to Finland. Thanks again to Tabea and Julia for inviting me to the community, and thanks to Fabrizio, Fabio, Leo, and all the others for the hospitality! Tabea actually suggested an oven building workshop for next year in Oslo – what a nice idea!
Filed under: 3/5, Art, Design, Food, Helsinki, Network | Tags: city, culture, event, experimental, food, history, local, nature, participatory, process, slow, storytelling
Here the invitation as is that I just published on Facebook (the event is open – so, welcome! – , but I will experimentally invite this time only via Facebook with some sort of system (see below) and be surprised with who will come!):
A full moon will bring light to this food and art event, taking place on an urban island in the sea waters surrounding Helsinki. An island breathing history: Seurasaari.
Welcome to the third happening of the 5-series. We will prepare a stew with as many cooks as there will be guests. Everybody brings one ingredient and prepares it on location. Stories and fairytales chosen or brought by the guests will be read and performed in any preferred way to accompany the mysterious atmosphere.
To make use of the unpredictable ways of getting connected with new people on Facebook, this invitation first goes out to the 21/33 fans of this project’s fans living in Finland. Please forward this invitation to 3 people of your choice on Facebook (of whom you think they might not know each other and be interested), and tell them to do the same. It will be exciting to see who will, in the end, attend the happening (please confirm on FB to be able to estimate the amount of guests).
Something warm to drink and fresh bread will be offered.
See you at full moon!
Some things to bring along:
– one raw unprepared ingredient (considering vegan and vegetarians, the stew will be without animal products. Any vegetables, beans, sprouts, herbs, etc. goes!)
– one story/ fairytale/ poem/ song/ …
– very warm clothes (imagine you would go skiing)
(- if at hand and desired, a blanket)
– any musical instrument is welcome!
P.S.: In case of rain/sleet/snow/storm the event will be cancelled and moved to a different day. Contact me via email or FB if there is anything to ask (katharina.moebus@gmail.com).
* Check this link for a map and directions http://www.seurasaarisaatio.fi/index.php?id=12. You can either take bus 24 (www.hsl.fi) or cycle (to the island, but no bicycles allowed on the island itself). After crossing the white bridge, just follow the signs to the “Juhlakenttä” (see map).
Filed under: Bread, Helsinki, Network | Tags: bread, city, event, food, participatory, public space
Finally, it is possible to make reservations for Archie on his personal blog online! The calendar is still under construction, but working somehow! Check it out here: http://stadinuuni.blogspot.com/
Filed under: Good to know, Helsinki, Making of, Network, Press, Workshop | Tags: activism, city, handicraft, knowledge, participatory
Check this out, a feature article on Simon’s clayoven blog about Archie and the project! Once more: hurray to the internet!
http://clayoven.wordpress.com/
Filed under: Bread, Design, Helsinki, Network, Workshop | Tags: activism, bread, city, event, forgotten, handicraft, knowledge, nature
20 people all together gathered tonight at the Hub in Helsinki city centre to plan the cob oven building at Kalasatama! A big success! First, we all introduced ourselves, most people were from Finland, but we also had some international guests from Norway, Turkey, Scotland, Mexico, and Germany. After a short brainstorm, Tanja showed some pictures from her cob oven building experience at a workshop in Germany. Everyone with some experience shared their stories and knowledge. Then, we divided into three groups (material, tools, design) to get organized, which was great fun because we only had very basic knowledge, but still managed to plan everything. The next two days will be busy with retrieving building material from Helsinki and its suburbs, finding information from the internet (free manuals etc.), and planning the workshop weekend. Stay tuned!
Great links:
http://clayoven.wordpress.com/
http://sourdough.com/building-cob-oven
http://www.greeniacs.com/GreeniacsGuides/How-to-Build-a-Cob-Oven.html
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