Ferment Lab

Ferment Lab is a participatory space for food and social fermentation and is a current active and ongoing project of Pixelache Helsinki.

Fermentation is a natural process that man has learned how to master. It is a crucial element to making foods and beverages in order to preserve it and enchance its taste and nutritional properties. In biochemical terms, it is a process that converts sugars present in foods, to acid, gazes or alcohol, under the action of ferments (such as bacteria, yeast, mold), most of the time in anaerobic (oxygen-deprived) conditions. 

Ferment Lab has taken various forms in its exploration of the phenomenon of fermentation. The project involves research and experimentation into food preparation as well as into social interpretations of the concept. Overall Ferment Lab aims to be conducted in various locations in order to collect parallel stories of food and social transformation, transplant gained recipes into other contexts and create new knowledge and meanings through experiments in social fermentation. 

As an ongoing Pixelache project since 2014, it has taken various forms dealing with the concept of fermentation, involving research into food preparation and experimentation, as well as the social interpretation of the concept. Since then Ferment Lab was hosted by Station Messschiff Eleonore - StadtWerkstatt  (Linz, 2015), Treasure Hill Artists Village (Taipei, 2015), TW Bioart (Taipei, 2015) Planet B at NRW-Forum (Düsseldorf , 2016). Local events in Helsinki were mostly taking part in collaboration with Herttoniemitalo and Temporary spaces within the context of the annual Pixelache Festival.

Ferment Lab Strasbourg was proposed by Andrew Gryf Paterson, Nathalie Aubret & Agnieszka Pokrywka from Pixelache to Le Shadok in May 2016 as a contribution to their international artist-residency project during late February to early July 2017, which contributes exhibition of process, artefacts and outgoings within the 'Strasbourg: Laboratoire à demain' (Laboratory of tomorrow) group exhibition at Shadok in October 2017-January 2018. Production was supported directly by Shadok, with travel support from Taike (Arts Promotion Centre Finland).

Read the related overview post here & see Zine part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4 & part 5.

 

Online   #fermentlab 

Facebook group: Ferment Lab Strasbourg 

Media archive (photos, videos, pdfs, graphic illustrations): https://archive.org/details/@fermentlab-pixelache

Project presence on Shadok webpages

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Ferment Lab began in 2014-2015 as a collaborative conversation between Agnieszka Pokrywka, Mikko Laajola, Samir Bhowmik, Petri Ruikka & Mari Keski-Korsu, centred around fermentation and collective growing in neighbourhood practices. In 2015 the project was led by Agnieszka Pokrywka, which Andrew Gryf Paterson joined at the end of the year. Nathalie Aubret & Hervé Munsch were key collaborators in the Ferment Lab Strasbourg process. Many other unnamed persons in multiple locations have been involved in workshops, we appreciate very much your contribution, and bubbles still continue, and scents linger fondly.

Currently, Pixelache members involved in Ferment Lab are Agnieszka Pokrywka & Andrew Gryf Paterson.

Contact us at fermentlab [at] pixelache.ac

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