World its oyster as Skye eco art project makes Turner shortlist
THEY are a group of artists who have waged war on aspects of food production they believe is bad for the health of the planet.
But a project highlighting the climate emergency on Skye is now up for one of the world’s most prestigious art prizes, which is to be announced next week.
Climavore has been chosen by Tate Britain alongside four other distinguished works as part of a fivestrong shortlist for the 2021 Turner Prize.
The nominees are, for the first time, made up of collectives who have helped to “inspire social change through art”, organisers say.
Exhibitions have been largely closed over the previous year due to the pandemic.
With that in mind, the shortlist contained the names of five groups that continued to work in the community.
An exhibition of work by the shortlisted groups runs until January 12 at the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum in Coventry, 2021’s City of Culture, where the winner will be announced on Wednesday.
Prize chairman and Tate Britain director Alex Farquharson said this year’s prize is intended to capture and reflect the mood of the moment in contemporary British art.
He said: “After a year of lockdowns when very few artists have been able to exhibit publicly, the jury has selected five outstanding collectives whose work has not only continued through the pandemic but become even more relevant as a result.”
Climanvore is the brainchild of London-based duo Alon Schwabe and Daniel Fernandez Pascual – together known as Cooking Sections.
Turner Prize officials applauded the ingenuity of their long-term Climavore project, which asks questions about how our diet can respond to the climate emergency.
The duo put on a sound, light and sculpture installation at Tate Britain last year, reflecting on salmon farming, as well as an ongoing installation-performance on Skye which sees an underwater oyster table turn into a community dining space at low tide.
Through the project, Cooking Sections helped educate Portree High School pupils about the regenerative benefits of bivalves and seaweed through a series of cooking workshops led by Skye-based chefs and producers.
“Climavore asks how do we eat as humans change climates?” says the project. “Climavore proposes a flexible form of eating, shifting for instance to drought-resistant crops in a period of water scarcity or filter feeders during times of polluted waters.”
Pupils have also undertaken apprenticeships with chefs across the island who have incorporated Climavore ingredients into their restaurant menus.
“Over the next months we are expanding our project Becoming Climavore,” said the project.
“Expanding from the 10 restaurants we work with in Skye and Raasay, 22 museums across the UK have removed farmed salmon from their menus and introduced climavore dishes, made with regenerative ingredients that proactively enhance water or soil ecologies.”
It added: “This provides visitors to those museums with alternatives, while creating a public forum to discuss transitions into alternative models.
“By removing farmed salmon from menus and introducing dishes made from seaweed, oysters or mussels – ingredients that filter water as they grow – Becoming Climavore develops new approaches to more equitable, community-owned and reparative food systems.
The Turner Prize says the efforts of the shortlisted – by Array Collective, Black Obsidian Sound System (BOSS), Cooking Sections, Gentle/radical, and Project Arts Works – have included artwork in support of law changes in Northern Ireland, a 24-hour fundraising rave for queer, trans and intersex black and people of colour, and the use of food to help understand the workings of the world.
In addition, there has been a lockdown doorstep neighbourhood storytelling campaign and work by a group of neurodiverse artists.
Last year’s Turner Prize didn’t happen at all due to the effects of coronavirus and it was instead replaced by a fund for struggling artists.
Climavore asks how do we eat as humans change climates?