Food and the Public Sphere

Food and The Public Sphere is a survey of socially engaging public works, sculpture and objects by internationally acclaimed artists Lucy + Jorge Orta.The partnership's food recycling projects, mass open- air meals, gleaned gastronomic dinners, and mobile soup kitchens have pioneered a renewed interest in the politics of food. Communities all over the world- working from the scale of global food networks down to local methods for farming and cooking-are seeking ways to make the food system better serve the needs of people and the planet. After decades of successful food production in massive quantities, producing cheap produce, policymakers and citizens are recognising the environmental and social cost of this process. The over-industrialisation of food has forced small farms to surrender to agribusiness, reduced biodiversity in favour of monoculture crops, and assaulted communities with debilitating chronic diseases. Lucy + Jorge Orta's work in this volume bring these pressing issues home.