Outset Scotland is very proud to have supported CLIMAVORE: On Tidal Zones, an ATLAS Arts commission by Cooking Sections.
Cooking Sections (Daniel Fernández Pascual & Alon Schwabe) combine art and cooking to explore the cultures of eating. Set on the intertidal zone at Bayfield, Portree, CLIMAVORE: On Tidal Zones explored the environmental effects of aquaculture and reacted to the changing shores of Portree. Each day at low tide, the installation emerged above the sea and functioned as a dining table, with free tastings of recipes featuring ocean purifiers: seaweeds, oysters, clams and mussels. At high tide, the installation worked as an oyster table.
During ten days in September, CLIMAVORE: On Tidal Zones was activated by Cooking Sections in collaboration with local stakeholders, residents, politicians and researchers. Over breakfast, lunch, or dinner (according to the tides), performative meals featured a series of Climavore ingredients that respond to the environmental challenges of Scottish waters. The long-term project aims to look at Climavore forms of eating that address environmental regeneration and promote more responsive aqua-cultures.
Cooking Sections also teamed up with restaurants and food establishments across the Isle of Skye to incorporate CLIMAVORE dishes in their menus, including seaweeds and bivalves. A food truck, bakery, cafes, and fine dining restaurants offered a range of plates and items which could contribute to cleaning Skye’s waters through their natural growth. These animals and plants purify the water by breathing, and can also help monitor the improvement of water quality along the coast.
ATLAS Arts was shortlisted for a 2018 Scottish Rural Award in the Conservation and the Environment category, with a particular focus on their pioneering work with Cooking Sections on the commission CLIMAVORE: On Tidal Zones.
Cooking Sections (Daniel Fernández Pascual & Alon Schwabe) are a duo of spatial practitioners based out of London. Their collaboration was born to explore the systems that organise the WORLD through FOOD. Using installation, performance, mapping and video, their research-based practice explores the overlapping boundaries between the visual arts, architecture and geopolitics. Cooking Sections was part of the exhibition at the US Pavilion, 2014 Venice Architecture Biennale. Their work has also been exhibited at the Neue Nationalgalerie Berlin; Storefront for Art & Architecture, New York; dOCUMENTA(13); Peggy Guggenheim Collection; CA2M, Madrid; The New Institute, Rotterdam; University of Technology, Sydney; ETSAM; CCA, Montreal; Fiorucci Art Trust, London; ACC Weimar; SOS 4.8; Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin; Akademie der Künste, Berlin; the 2014 Biennale INTERIEUR Kortrijk; the 2016 Oslo Architecture Triennale; and Brussels ParckDesign. They have been residents in The Politics of Food at Delfina Foundation, London. In 2013 they initiated The Empire Remains project, which eventually led to the opening of The Empire Remains Shop in August 2016. They are Visiting Lecturers at the Royal College of Art, London.
ATLAS Arts is a pioneering producer and commissioner of contemporary art that creates connections between artists and audiences, and responds to the unique qualities of this region, its landscapes, its culture and its people. ATLAS opens up the potential for artists to make extraordinary ideas happen in unusual and unexpected places, inspiring audiences and participants to explore new horizons.