What to Eat in Times of Perpetual Crisis

Employing a range of media, including installation, performance, and video, the research-oriented practice of Anca Benera and Arnold Estefán addresses historical, social, and geopolitical narratives and their underlying power structures. Their recent work has focused on ecological issues and the overexploitation of natural resources as well as the overlaps between environmental concerns and military affairs. Fleshing out these themes, their first solo exhibition in Germany—Rehearsals for Peace—is now on view at the Neue Berliner Kunstverein.

In dialogue with their exhibition, I am delighted to host a workshop together with the artists on Thursday 29 June, titled “What to Eat in Times of Perpetual Crisis.” From British and US “victory gardens,” designed to protect against food shortages, to food rations in crisis areas to combat food insecurity: war and hunger are deeply entangled. In Europe, the term “wartime recipe” usually summons a bygone era and yet, with Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, it takes on new relevance today. How do crises such as war and extreme weather conditions determine what we eat? How do militarized landscapes and industrialized foods interrelate and overlap? And how does food link to violence—both fast and slow?

This workshop takes the form of a picnic and offers canned and collected foods in tandem with stories about landscapes and agricultural rituals, time and preservation, nature and war. Find out more and register here.