arvae

every monday
17:00 – 19:00
at SAE Greenhouse Lab
Häldeliweg 19, 8044 Zürich

We are spent 2023 in a digestion / research phase – questioning practices of transdisciplinary exchange and production(s), while sustaining the projects, conversations and community we initiated the last years.

The residency was being hosted by SAE Greenhouse Lab, run by Kenza Benabderrazik, as a space for art-science explorations for agroecological transformation. The SAE Greenhouse Lab fosters creative dialogues with local communities and invite artists, curators, producers to explore jointly the bonds to be established between the research of the Sustainable Agroecosystems Group, ETH which sheds light on sustainable agroecosystems and the collective movements transforming food and agricultural systems.

As part of the research phase, various activities and encounters with artists and scientists in our community have been cultivated – weekly collective reading sessions, exhibitions, sympoisums, gatherings, exchanges with students, meals, meetings and plannings. We used this time to come together, try things out, give space for experimentation, critical reflection and resistance; and be together. We used this moment to reflect, reconsider and rejuvenate, to find a practice which we slowly move with.

This research phase was made possible by Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia (Transdisciplinary Projects Research Grant). 

*arvae weekly reading sessions @ SAE Greenhouse Lab (every Monday from 17-19h, April – November 2023). Centering decolonial feminist perspectives on agroecology. Some sessions were initiated by Kenza Benabderrazik, Mariana Murcia and Ana Nuñez Rodriguez.

*talks and walks with students from the institute for the history and theory of architecture (gta), ETH on nativeness; tropical plants; greenhouse materials and designs; and experiments across agroecology and art (24 April 2023).

*Paloma and Tara talked with students from the agroecologists without borders seminar on (re)imagining human-fungi interdependencies. on what we (un)learned during the Kollektiv experiment in Arosa. on what transpires or grows from unsuccess. on scalabilty and unscalable projects. on decolonial practices within transdsciplinary experiments (2 May 2023)

*Ana Nuñez Rodriguez mini-residency (21-24 May 2023). Ana contributed to the Schpensa archive in 2022 with «cooking potato stories». her time in Zürich was spent immersing in the complex system of meanings and narratives around the potato, with those who work and practice within it.

*arvae spent the day with students from Hyperwerk Basel in the context of their module «assemble, reflect», including a Cooking Potato Stories workshop by Ana Nuñez Rodriguez (23 May 2023)

*ALIMENTO exhibition, symposium and dinner (May – June 2023).

*visit to foodculturedays in Vevey for the launch of the Inland Academy publication «landing», which includes a contribution by Mariana Murcia, Grace Denis and Tara Lasrado titled «being with» departing from their experiences at SAE Greenhouse in 2022 (June 2023).

*Collage Partage with Carolina Tokas Wernick. Bringing together practices of collaging reading, writing, eating, questioning, sharing. A space for vulnerabilities, imperfections and pauses. An exercise on transdisciplinary exchange and changing paces (12 and 26 June 2023).

ALIMENTO is an exhibition that investigates the act of nourishing. It brings forward the topic of anthropophagy in order to explore food systems that are based on reciprocity/circularity with the earth, other humans and non-human entities, as well as to challenge extractivist, patriarchal, capitalist and colonial models.

With the participation of artists Paloma Ayala, Kadija de Paula, Lívia Melzi, La Polinizadora, Mu, Pedro Zylbersztajn and scientists Dr. Tania Galindo Castañeda, Dr. Sandra Smith Aguilar and Dr. Benjamin Wilde.

ALIMENTO is the first of a series of 3 exhibitions entitled “Earth is the heaviest element” curated by Adriana Domínguez which addresses the need to de-construct and re-construct our relationship to the earth, other humans and non human entities. It brings together the knowledge and practices of Latin American and Swiss artists and scientists together, in order to suggest alternative ways of co-existing.

ALIMENTO was a collaboration between la_capsula, SAE Greenhouse of the Sustainable Agroecosystems group in ETH and arvae.

arvae creates spaces for collaboration between the arts, science, and local expertise. We enable the organic development of topics and projects across disciplines, in close collaboration with the localities we work in. We take time to learn from – and with – the interests and practices of each participant in order to discover synergies and develop joint projects that permeate institutional boundaries. Our work is deeply personal – rooted in the knowledge, experiences and (hi)stories of those we collaborate with.

We connect and share knowledge from the arts, science, and local experts (e.g. farmers, agricultural landowners, forest managers, or local tourism departments) at the sites of where we work. We are driven by an open and transparent process of knowledge sharing and project development.

The core of our work was the «Kollektiv»: a year-long site-specific experiment in collaborative and transdisciplinary work between artists, scientists, and local (environmental) experts, that took place in Arosa, Switzerland from 2021-2022. arvae created the conditions and the atmosphere needed to facilitate collaboration in 3 project phases (research phase, lab phase, production phase).

The arvae team started conversations and a pre-research phase in Arosa in March 2021 and established our relationship with our local partner, Arosa Tourism. We learnt that the municipality is facing some urgent environmental challenges. Such as changing seasons meaning longer summers and challenges to their dependence on winter tourism; and shifts in prevalent species in high altitudes. Therefore Arosa embraced the approach of arvae to activate and fuel a broader public imagination around these topics.

In August 2021 the research phase of the Arosa «Kollektiv» took place. In this first step the «Kollektiv» members visited Arosa and identified the needs, challenges, and opportunities for potential projects in close exchange with various local (environmental) experts. Thank you to – Evi Sprecher and Hanspeter Mohler (Biogarten Schanfigg), Janosch Bremauer (there-for-trees), Georg Arpagaus (hotelier, entrepreneur and pioneer in solar energy), Claudio Färber (district forester), Marcel Laversa (chef Anders Arosa), Ruth Licht (storyteller / Heimatmuseum), Lidia Alder (Arosa Tourism sustainability manager) Bettina Tschour (Restaurant Güterschuppen), Roland Bürkli (fountain master / Arosa Klaranlage), Yvonne Altmann (mayor of Arosa), Pascal Jenny (Arosa Tourism) – for your insights and ideas. The research phase resulted in the identification of water systems, agriculture, local food production, and sustainable tourism as key topics for the «Kollektiv» to develop projects on.

Based on the information gathered in the research phase, the «Kollektiv» started developing specific project proposals addressing the selected topics. In order to advance the work on the proposals the «Kollektiv» members met again in Arosa in September 2021. During this lab phase the «Kollektiv» largely organised their work autonomously. There were further meetings held with local (environmental) experts, we sat together with Arosa’s mayor and the president of Arosa Tourism; and had numerous work-sessions, gatherings, and reflections together to further develop the project proposals. Following this, the «Kollektiv» members worked on their project proposals remotely for three additional weeks.

A project advisory group made up of experienced members of our sounding board and network helped us then make a selection for implementation. This included Monica Ursina Jäger (artist, lecturer and research associate at the Institute of Natural Resource Sciences, ZHAW),  Pascal Jenny (President of Arosa Tourism), Yvonne Altmann (Mayor of Arosa), Farah Ahmed (Climate Justice Lead at Julie’s Bicycles, London), Lalasia Bialic-Murphy (Lead Scientist at Crowther Lab, ETH), Serayna Solanki (freelance consultant in climate, environment and community participation, London); and Céline Oberle (“Organic” Lead at Migros-Genossenschafts-Bund).

From mid-November 2021 till June 2022 two projects submitted by the «Kollektiv» were produced: «Schpensa: a growing archive on cultivated crops» and «Food is human: (re)imagining human-fungi interdependencies» (read more about the projects in the tabs below). 

During this phase, additional site-visits to Arosa, lab experiments at ETH Zürich; atelier work; and numerous planning and producing meetings took place. Late night zooms and whatsapp chats kept the project groups together during this intensive remote working phase. 

Meet the «Kollektiv» of artists, scientists, and local (environmental) experts for arvae in Arosa:

This highly experimental, process-based project aims to grow edible mushrooms (fungi) from human waste in order to investigate current hierarchies in food consumption and production globally and in Arosa. 

Following a site-visit through Arosa’s water system during the research phase and multiple exchanges with the organic garden in Schanfigg, the project group drew strong connections between the underground water-pipe system in Arosa and a fungal network. Based on the great potential of mushrooms to mediate connections, the project takes up one of the issues most discussed by the «Kollektiv»: the development and expansion of tourism in Arosa and the urban waste it generates. It offers new perspectives and possibilities on waste generation while addressing the challenges of growing food and sustaining soil health in an alpine region; and the importance of local food production in Arosa. For this purpose, an experiment was conducted to cultivate edible mushrooms from mainly sewage sand gained from Arosa’s wastewater treatment plant. The experiment was made visible through an installation in Arosa, aiming to expand the idea of what waste can be.

The project team found that different edible fungal species colonised Arosa municipal sludge and very likely used it as an energy and/or nutrient source. Both oyster and lion’s mane fungi intentionally grew towards and onto the municipal sludge, even when given the chance to avoid it. Only the industrial indoor spawn bags fruited during the exhibition. Unfortunately our DIY spawn bags did not. We believe this is because we opened the bags too early and possibly they needed more time to grow before trying to induce fruiting. We did not yet have the timing correct to synchronize the timing of the mycelial growth with the exhibition duration. The project team is interested in taking the experiment further in another constellation next year. 

«Food is human» centers around questioning how fungi and feces have so often been described as unwanted, ugly and disgusting; rendered invisible and thereby non-existent despite being an important part of Earth’s survival. It portrays fungi as a metaphor of rhizomatic, interdependent, invisible relations and communications – from whom we can learn so much. 

To procure the waste, the project team worked with Arosa’s fountain master, Roland Bürkli. The project was supported by the Crowther Lab, ETH Zürich, who provided facilities to safely remediate the waste and test the growing of edible fungi. 

This project was developed by microbiologist Mark Anthony, artist Paloma Ayala, ecologist Nadine Keller, and the Arosa sewage treatment plant.

The interdisciplinary project “Schpensa” (a Grishun expression for food storage or pantry) aims to show the potential of localising food systems in the Alpine region. It addresses this by using the example of the potato and the relationship of the Arosa population to cultivated plants. 

«Schpensa» consists of three elements:

1. A growing online archive which collects both historical and current scientific, artistic and culinary contributions on the potato. These contributions range from new recipes for old potato varieties, to scientific articles on the origin of the potato in Europe, to global stories of potato cultivation. 

2. A town garden of potatoes was planted throughout Arosa – with the help of the municipality of Arosa, Didis Bluemelade and the Maran experimental garden by Agroscope – and cared for by local garden hosts. 

3. The harvest in autumn was followed by a harvest dinner for all local partners and collaborators. 

In a broader sense, «Schpensa» aims to use the example of the potato to pose questions about contemporary and sustainable nutrition in the Alpine region. The «Schpensa» project team believes that the future development of global food production depends largely on societies’ ability to adapt to climatic changes and to re-think their dietary habits.

«Schpensa» is the result of a collaboration between the Arosa native Tina Arpagaus, the Arosa resident and gastronomy manager Bettina Tschuor, the landscape architect Violeta Burckhardt and the artist Anne-Laure Franchette.

The exhibition «Neue Perspektiven zur Nachhaltigkeit» in Natur Labor Arosa was the first moment to bring arvae’s collaborative processes to the public. It was open from 30 June – 13 August 2022 with a public program taking place on 2 July 2022. 

In the exhibition, representations of the «Schpensa» process were displayed – the online archive was available to view and images of contemporary schpensas, found around Arosa and documented by Roman Ernst, were displayed on a traditional potato storage unit.  

Unused plastics found in kitchens, second-hand stores and studios were recovered for the «Food is human» installation. We learned that plastic, in this form, is productive for fungi to grow and flourish. Some habitats are filled with bought / industrial indoor spawn bags and some with the project team’s DIY spawn-bags in order to monitor growing and cultivation variations during the 6 week exhibition. Hanging walls traced this intensive, ongoing research process which was also materialised at the archive table; and in a short video produced by Paloma Ayala. 

Thank you to Flavia, Papi, Yumi, Phillippe and Jérémy for their production support in the lead up to the exhibition. And to Claudio and the Natur Labor Arosa team for caring for the exhibition. And to Nina for the photo documentation of the exhibition and Schpensa garden. 

«Am Tisch» is a curated dinner series taking place in intimate, informal and unexpected settings. It acts as a forum for (future) exchange with arvaes transdisciplinary community within, across, and between the arts and sciences. 

Our first dinner in this series took place in September 2021. We invited visual artist and «Kollektiv Arosa» member Paloma Ayala to co-host the evening with us. Paloma foraged local ingredients and prepared the meal in her garden (with her self-made oven), giving our guests a deeper insight into her decolonial cooking and artistic practice.

In 2022 we collaborated on «Mobile Soils» at SAE Greenhouse, ETH Zürich as part of a series of networking and thematic exchanges between science, art and agronomy. This series of three dinners was a collaboration between arvae, Manon Briod & Mathieu Pochon, foodculture days, TETI Group and SAE Greenhouse Lab. Together, we unfolded the three chapters of the publication “MobileSoils” by TETI Press: investigating the mineral and rooted discussions of the underground, looking at the layered and planted conversations on the ground, and finally exploring the circulating patterns across the overground. 

arvae and SAE Greenhouse curated the second dinner «Ground» which took place on 3 June 2022 and included contributions by Mariana Murcia, Santiago Pinyol, Siavash Namehshiri, Kenza Benabderrazik, Jose Caceres Mardones and Tara Lasrado.

The dinner explored the dynamics of “giving and taking”, “production and consumption”, “human beings and machines”, “linear and circular”, addressing food and agricultural practices and through scientific and socio-political questions. How to turn the relations of a greenhouse into a social, educational and cultural space for interpersonal relations, embodied gestures and non-production? How does soil nurture or feed us – and what do these processes look like? We understand soil as a body of knowledge, containing many (hi)stories. This dinner was a sensory exploration and haptic experience – we invited guests to taste the research, listen to the food, smell the sounds.

«Mobile Soils» dinner series was made possible with the support of Pro Helvetia and Migros Pioneer Fund. 

arvae was present at and participated in various gatherings, meetings and presentations throughout 2021 – 2022, including «Blue Cables in Venetian Watercourse» in Shanghai, (Y)our2040 summit in Laax, The International relations committee of ZHdK, Franklin University in Ticino, «Kulturforum» in Lüen, «Agroecologist without borders» seminar, part of the Sustainable Agroecosystems Group at the Department of Environmental Systems Science, ETH Zurich; Inland Academy for art, agroecology and territory; «Nachhaltige, kreative Ökonomien» at the Institut Kulturforschugn Graubünden, «with the field» collective as part of the Pro Helvetia To-Gather project, LEARNING FROM THE EARTH symposium as part of the Land Art Biennale Safiental; and the South Asian curators trip in Switzerland organised by Pro Helvetia and Artlink.

*all articles in German.

Aroser Zeitung – August 2021

Aroser Zeitung – April 2022

Aroser Zeitung – June 2022

WOZ – July 2022

current:
tara lasrado
Navya Itty

former team members (2020-2022):
Alexandra Müller-Crepon, co-director
Tina Arpagaus, Arosa local coordinator
Roman Ernst, communications

Alexandra Müller-Crepon
Natalia Huser
Céline Oberle

former board member: Leandro Davies (2020-2022).

Farah Ahmed, Climate Justice Lead at Julie’s Bicycles, London
Prof. Tom Crowther, ecologist and founder of Crowther Lab, Zürich
Prof. Dr. Charlotte Grossiord, Group Leader of Plant Ecology Research Laboratory PERL (EPFL / WSL), Lausanne
Nicolas Henchoz, Director of EPFL + ECAL Lab, Lausanne
Monica Ursina Jäger, artist, lecturer and research associate, Institute of Natural Resource Sciences, ZHAW
Adrian Notz, AI + Art Curator, ETH AI Center
Dharmendra Prasad, artist, Nadaon
Christian Simm, Head of International Relations at University of Zürich
Serayna Solanki, freelance consultant in climate, environment and community participation, London

With its four-year focus «Art, Science and Technology», Pro Helvetia fosters transdisciplinary exchange and collaboration between arts practitioners on the one hand and science and technology professionals on the other. arvae received a research grant for transdisciplinary projects from the Innovation and Society department in 2022.

The Migros Pioneer Fund looks for and supports ideas with social potential. It enables pioneering projects that break new ground and seek out forward-looking solutions. Its impact-oriented funding approach combines financial support with coaching services. The Migros Pioneer Fund is part of the Migros Group’s social commitment and is enabled by the Migros Group with around CHF 15 million annually. For further information: www.migros-pionierfonds.ch

Crowther Lab is an interdisciplinary science lab at ETH Zurich. Their global research generates a better understanding of Earth’s ecology and inspires responsible ecosystem restoration. The team believes in conserving, protecting, and restoring nature to fight climate change and enhance human health and wellbeing. For further information: www.crowtherlab.com

As a destination management organization, Arosa Tourism represents the destination and its tourist facilities, offers and events to the outside world, including marketing for the mountain village. Arosa Tourism does its utmost to maintain the destination as a small paradise in the Grisons mountains for both locals and guests. For further information: www.arosalenzerheide.swiss