Delfina Foundation | Politics of Food programme call for interdisciplinary collaborations

Open call from Delfina Foundation in London for proposals of interdisciplinary collaborations between artists/curators and researchers for the 2022 season of the Politics of Food programme. Opportunities will be available for in-person residencies and virtual engagement, as well as public programme events, involving participants from all countries, and UK associates.

Since 2014, Delfina Foundation’s Politics of Food programme has worked with artists, activists, agronomists, artisans, bakers, butchers, chefs, economists, farmers, fermenters, foragers, historians, scientists, policy makers, nutritionists and more, delivering over 100 residencies with public programmes taking the format of meals, exhibitions, walks, talks, pickings and a pop-up cafe. A first book dedicated to the topic was published at the end of 2019 and is distributed by Sternberg Press.

In autumn 2022, Delfina Foundation will launch its fifth concentrated season of residencies and public programmes focusing investigations on the most pressing issue of our time: the climate emergency. Agriculture alone is responsible for 30% of greenhouse gas emissions, 92% of global water use, 38% of earth’s ice-free land, and is a major source of biodiversity loss and land degradation. In our oceans, the impact of the world’s fastest growing food production system – intensive aquaculture – encapsulates the complexity of future ‘sustainable’ diets as nutritional, policy and environmental factors rub against one another. Addressing how and what we eat is critical to the survival of both human and more than human species.

For this open call, Delfina Foundation are open to a variety of responses to their sub-theme, but are particularly interested in interdisciplinary collaborations between artists/curators and researchers seeking to evolve ideas beyond this residency and traditional art spaces. Whilst Delfina Foundation’s residencies tend to host creative practitioners, they are keen to receive applications from researchers, including but not limited to traditional knowledge holders, academic researchers, scientists, ecologists and gastronomes alike, who are interested in this form of collaboration. Opportunities will be available for in-person residencies and virtual engagement, as well as public programme events. This open call should therefore be considered as an expression of interest to participate in a range of ways.

The overall programme will include a minimum of 10 international residents or UK associates. Selected candidates for our residency programme will be provided with accommodation and international travel as well as an allowance for food/per diems (£30/per day), visas, and a materials stipend. UK Associates receive a bursary of £2,000 GBP, plus access to our space, networks, and programming, as outlined in the previous question.

Deadline: 14 June 2021