Johanna Seelemann & Björn Steinar Blumenstein
Johanna Seelemann (she/her) is a German designer based in Iceland. She leads a design studio which explores material cultures, related to mundane objects and their contexts, production systems and ecological cycles, in order to create desirable future scenarios. Her practice embraces a multi-disciplinary approach that leads to a wide range of typologies, such as product design, spatial design, design consultancy, conceptual design works for exhibitions and working in various collaborations.
Björn Steinar Blumenstein (he/him) is a product designer, currently based in Iceland. He is an enthusiastic designer who strives towards societal change through his design practice. He is from a generation of product designers; designing into a world over flooded with products and useless temptations. The world is in dire need of solutions to an array of problems, which is why Blumenstein tends towards what he calls an anti-capitalistic design method; honest design practice with a real purpose, where no one is screwed over – neither people nor planets.
Rumbling and growling we arrive At the Table, but the sounds are not only from hungry stomachs or digestion – they are echoes of global trade, political powerlessness, colonial histories and unaccommodating social norms. Acknowledging the grip that food scarcity and abundance has on our lives, the artworks in this exhibition recognise what a food-dependent body is.
Candid narratives reveal the multifaceted origins of our everyday ingredients, evoking fundamental questions about how our bodies interact with food, and ultimately the world around us. The works prompt us to be attentive to the intellectual and bodily digestion that we continuously part-take in, considering that we metabolise artworks much like food.
This exhibition is a response to how we, as eaters, consume the politics of our food infrastructures. From the Earth to our mouth, eating is a collaborative act that confronts us with our inescapable reliance on one another. Through edible artworks, food happenings and participatory activities, visitors are welcomed At the Table to leave traces, like bread crumbs, for others to consume.
At The Table is paired with three different food happenings that tackle various appetites. For the opening, Micheline Nahra will host a food experience shaped by the paradox
of diplomacy. At the Brandstof, Seasonal Neighbours will present in-depth groundwork about migrants in the farming industry that supply
us with year-round fresh produce. For Natafelen, Amanny Ahmad will provision a Palestinian dinner foraged from industrialised and natural landscapes.