The Elbe Knows Everything

We aim to challenge our collective imaginations to explore urgent questions surrounding food such as: What forms of production and consumption, habits, ingredients, tools, and foodways are needed to not only survive but to thrive? Could food become a transformative tool for imagining alternative futures and adapting to the present environmental crisis?

We started the School of Survival, the public outreach program and ‘living lab’ that runs alongside the exhibition Survival in the 21st Century (2024, Deichtorhallen, Hamburg), with the intention to develop the knowledge, concepts, and practical skills to tackle these questions.

Within the School of Survival, the Hamburg pilot of Bauhaus of the Seas hosted seven fellowships by inviting four local culinary practitioners and three international artistic research practices to explore a different approach to food: How can the act of eating become a regenerative instead of an extractive act? How can we heal instead of hurt our surroundings and fellow beings on this planet by the food choices that we make?

The endresults of the fellowships were presented within the School of Survival program as lunches, tastings, workshops and lectures, to both visitors of the museum and the local culinary school.