Food for Thought

Food for Thought : The Basics

Food for Thought is a migratory, experiential event, designed to generate activity and stimulate discussion about the future of urban and civic spaces.

A mysterious, metamorphic portmanteau is ritualistically located throughout a series of urban spaces, coming to rest at opportune moments, generally (but not necessarily) in conjunction with other activities taking place. A multi-facetted progeny of organ grinder, ice cream cart, puppet theatre and Tardis, Food for Thought is an active presence, attracting locals and passersby with the prospect of free soup.

Every interested individual submits a maximum 140 character reply by filling out a card in response to a particular query posed for that place; essentially an open invitation for ideas. The suggestion is logged, the contributor receives their soup.

Thus, Food for Thought

Food for Thought : The Detail

The sharing of food is a primordial human act. The exchange of ideas is central to the vitality of cities. By bringing these two acts together, each Food for Thought event will act both as a catalyst for congregation and an opportunity for members of the community to express themselves in a deliberate and constructive manner. The ideas received may be functional or fantastical, demanding or magnanimous; they will all, however, be both unexpected and authentic.

The propositions submitted will later be disseminated via displays, projections and scrolling signage, the Food for Thought website and Twitter, and printed on the cups for subsequent days’ soup. The ideas would also appear in remotely linked locations, as well as local media and on partner organisation websites.

As an extension of the collaborative, consultative nature of the venture, we’ll recruit notable figures in the creative and civic life of the locale to serve the soup; this will be a roster of activists, performers, artists, architects, community leaders, public figures and others interested in the future life of their neighbourhood, city or discipline.

Also, for each of the individual acts of the event/installation, a different local restaurant will contribute the soup, further promoting the deeply specific regional nature of each event.

Food for Thought will work with major civic institutions and exhibition venues to establish presentations and celebrations of the collected ideas at regular stages throughout the project; we’ll also establish creative links with local spaces and organisations to disseminate the content to those communities in which we stage the event.

Food for Thought is the latest in an ongoing series of works designed to promote engagement and raise awareness of the potentials for broad participation in the shaping of our public spaces via the medium of ideas, wherever and whatever they might be.

Food for Thought : The Funding

To date the Food for Thought team has already heavily invested our own time, money and resources in the project, including extensive development, fabrication and production costs. This investment, coupled with our unshakable confidence in the project, has seen successful Food for Thought installs in Broken Hill and at Australia’s largest annual architecture event, the National Conference. We will also be featured at the launch of Australia’s largest design festival, Sydney Design 2010, in August.

Our belief in the project and our desire to see Food for Thought expanding into other significant locations continues to drive the project forward. Our latest prospect is one too good to refuse: the chance to be showcased in the heart of the Venice Architecture Biennale, in September of this year.

The Venice Biennale is the premier architecture event in the world; our presence there (along with 60,000 architects from around the world and the attendant media) is an important opportunity to put Food for Thought in front of a global audience and develop the project even further.

As is often the case with these “offers you can’t refuse,” the invitation was not accompanied with huge remuneration; none at all, for that matter. The Food for Thought team is seeking funding to offset some of the project and travel costs, as the next step in the international development of the project.

Food for Thought : The Future

As an ongoing project undertaking primary research into the city, Food for Thought seeks to give back to the city and its inhabitants through the engagement with our civic spaces and all that happens (and can happen) in them.

The Food for Thought project is also a vehicle for researching ways of realising future interventions (permanent or temporary) into our city and its spaces. A book (or series of books) will be produced illustrating the myriad responses to the project as well as presenting speculative projects for city, developed from the replies offered by the public. The Food for Thought website will also be developed to provide opportunities for ongoing collaboration and a readily accessible platform for feedback and engagement, in addition to providing an electronic venue for the publication of previous installations and their outcomes.

In the face of an increased privatisation of our cities, Food for Thought aims for a revitalised civic discourse, and the provision of a medium of exchange for opinions, engagement and renewed construction of our cities and their spaces, by the people who live in and use them.

We welcome you to join us in the new 21^st century agora.

Project By

Food for Thought Projects

Redfern

http://www.foodforthought.org.au

send msg