WochenKlausur was invited by Kirsten Lloyd and Angela Dimitrakaki, curators of the “ECONOMY” exhibition presented at the Centre for Contemporary Arts (CCA) in Glasgow and Stills Gallery in Edinburgh to do a residency on the theme of participatory economics.

Using the Creative Lab space as an office for the month we are working intensively (WochenKlausur, an invented word translates approximately as a weeks closed situation or focused working session) to collaborate with a group of women in Drumchapel to set up a business that addresses employment and health needs in the community. The local partner for the project is Drumchapel L.I.F.E, a health and wellbeing organisation and we are pulling together a team of professionals, experts and like minded individuals and organisations to work with the women to give them business advice and mentoring to practical skills and support.

WochenKlausur have been working as a collective for the last 20 years and have worked on projects round the world conducting social interventions for example a clinic for drug addicts, a cinema for immigrants and language classes for refugees of the Kosovo war.

The Creative Lab is open for visitors Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays 2 – 6pm throughout February. Drop in and have a chat about what we are up to.

I’ll add some commentary to them but in the short term I wanted to share images of the places I went.

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My Pecha Kucha is titled ‘Three Days Supply’ and I will explore disconnection, reconnection, food and the city; A view of Glasgow and other cities through the lens of food. I aim to cook up a diverse menu of images to stir the senses and tickle the imagination.

It is a Lighthouse event hosted in collaboration with the New Glasgow Society.

Tickets: £8.00/4.00 (concession)

To book a place contact reception:
Telephone: 0141 276 5365

Email: information.thelighthouse@glasgow.gov.uk

Check out the author’s blog page for a Canadian perspective on urban agriculture. Also interesting is the blog of City Farmer, a Vancouver based urban agriculture organisation mentioned in the book.

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It will be on right through September and you can visit the exhibition 11m – 3pm Monday to Friday.

The exhibition features a new version of the Govanhill food map and we are looking for visitors to add their own local food experiences and memories. You can see the film Eating In produced by Clem Sandison and Kim Beverage, showcasing a mouthwatering range of recipes demonstrated by Govanhill residents. You can also pick up recipes from all the soups and meals that have been cooked as part of the project.

The soup trolley made a reappearance at the opening to serve freshly made pea and lentil soups, courtesy of Marion from Govanhill Grub.

]]> http://www.alexwilde.info/eating-in-eating-out-exhibition-september-2012/feed/ 0 http://www.alexwilde.info/glasgow-exchange-market/ http://www.alexwilde.info/glasgow-exchange-market/#comments Mon, 02 Apr 2012 15:58:11 +0000 Alex http://www.alexwilde.info/?p=691 Myself and Annechien, as A Growing Exchange have been commissioned to help design and develop a Glasgow Exchange Market in the Merchant City in July. It is part of the Culture Kitchen project, directed by Clem Sandison. The commission was inspired by Clem Sandison and Katherine Van Den Berg’s visit to the Hague in October and seeing the Green Exchange Market in action, organised by Annechien Meier, as part of Stroom’s Dag Hap festival.

Exchanging produce at the Green Exchange Market, The Hague, October 2011

Information about the Glasgow Exchange Market

In the heart of the city on Saturday 28^th July a space will appear for the city’s growers to exchange their produce.

We all generally have an excess of something or produce enough to spare a little. It isn’t about giving it away for free though, it’s about bringing something you value and exchanging it with something of equal value. We will create an alternative trading system to swap, barter and exchange.

Like a market it will also serve as a place for exchange of ideas, skills and a catch up on the latest news. The site hasn’t been confirmed yet but it will be in the Merchant City, the original site of trade in Glasgow.

What do you have or could you produce for exchange?

Fruit and vegetables
Collected seeds
Jams, pickles, chutneys
Bunches of fresh herbs
Packets of dried herbs for cooking, smelling or making tea
Bunches of flowers
Seedlings, cuttings, bulbs
Refurbished or used tools
Decorated pots
Homemade plant food
Worms for a wormery
Cordial or fresh berry juice

Alternatively is there a service you could offer? advice on composting, seed identification, tool mending etc

We will encourage people to work in groups to share ideas and gather produce. This could be your block of flats, your school, a community growing project or allotment.

If you are interested in taking part complete the attached form or email the information to glasgowexchangemarket@gmail.com

It is organised by myself as part of the Glasgow Food Map project and Clem Sandison as part of the Hidden Gardens’ Culture Kitchen project.

We would like people in Govanhill to get involved in documenting, researching, exploring and sharing what they eat, how they eat it and where it’s from.

Eating in – Would you like to demonstrate one of your favourite recipes? We will be making short films of people cooking in their home to share with others on the Streetland website and at the festival. Get in touch with Clem Sandison (0141 433 2722, clem@thehiddengardens.org.uk) if you are interested or want to find out more.

Mapping it – How much do you know about food in your local area? Have you tried all the cafes, restaurants and take-aways? Who runs them? Where does the food in your local shop come from? We will be running a mapping day on Saturday 24th of March 11am – 4pm. Meet up at 11am at the Queens Cafe. We will be stopping for lunch at 1pm in the Govanhill Baths (soup provided) gathering back together at the Baths at 3pm to share what we have found out.

Eating out – As part of the mapping we will ask local cafes or restaurants to give us recipes for their favourite soups. Volunteers from Govanhill Grub and the Hidden Gardens Cultural Cookery group will select some of the recipes to form part of the mobile soup trolley which will be touring the streets of Govanhill during Streetland. Get in touch if you want more info about joining the cookery volunteers to cook and serve the soup.

Contact us for more information about any of the above at govanhillfood@gmail.com

Download the Leaflet Eating In Eating Out

Streetland aims to engage and inspire communities in a creative exploration of their streets and communal spaces. For more information about Streetland visit www.streetland.net or email streetlandinfo@googlemail.com

The project is supported by the Govanhill Baths Community Trust, which runs Govanhill Grub and is providing the facilities for cooking the soup www.govanhillbaths.com

Friday 24^th February I left Glasgow with an empty soup pot and headed off to Manchester. I gathered the ingredients of my soup as a travelled, hoping to provide physical as well as intellectual nourishment. Disappointingly I found little other than branded ingredients from chain stores on my journey apart my last stop which was a small open air stall with an amazing variety of veg from round the world.

I had a really good discussion with people who attended the talk at the Chinese Arts Centre about food and art. It was a mixed group of people interested in food, sustainability, art and community development and everyone was open and generous in their contributions to the discussion.

People contributed their personal experiences and thoughts on how they relate to food;. We talked about the value placed on it from scarcity, how it is crafted and served, who it was bought from, how it was produced, the health giving properties and who it was eaten with. Specifically in relation to Chinese culture we talked about the health giving properties of soup and the customs around it’s consumption.

We went on to discuss what an artist’s role can be in drawing attention to or exploring that relationship through engagement with communities. It developed into talking a lot about not how the artist related to the community but to the spaces and cross overs between artists and other professionals.

I filled my pot with the parsnip, carrot, thyme that people had brought to talk about and the ideas, challenges and thoughts from the discussion and headed back to Glasgow.

The theme is ‘Life Friendly’, an ongoing research project into positive approaches to art and sustainability.

I have been thinking about sustainability in my practice and though the most obvious issue is food security and the choices we make about what we eat I also want to talk about sustainable practices as an artist interested in community. I am interested in the roles and responsibilities of an artist, particularly as my practice is very process based; collecting information, sharing ideas and building connections and

I hope for it to be a learning experience for me as well as the group and am looking forward to the discussion.

For more information about the event visit http://www.chinese-arts-centre.org/events/alex-wilde-art-food-society/

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